The first time I dunked an Ooty varkey into my coffee, I remember thinking I had finally found my favourite teatime snack. A very south-Indianised version of the French puff pastry, the traditional recipe uses refined flour (maida), hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt and maava: a fermented paste made out of mashed bananas, maida, semolina and sugar that gives varkey its singular identity. As for its history, there are contesting theories about who created it or how it got its quirky name. Origin story aside, as an avowed fan of this biscuit, I have always felt that it deserved love and recognition beyond the Nilgiri hills. That day may not be too far now; the Ooty varkey received its geographical indication (GI) tag in March. All the more reason for you to (guiltlessly) ask a friend visiting Ooty to get you a pack of these crumbly goodies.—Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran
In 1989, in a documentary called Homework, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami asked students at the Shahid Masumi school about their lives, problems and dreams. It’s a charming, deceptively simple documentary (streaming on MUBI as part of a Kiarostami retrospective), the responses by the children revealing much about the economic and social landscape of Iran then. Kiarostami was about to embark on the incredible run that yielded Close-Up (1990), Through The Olive Trees (1994), Taste Of Cherry (1997) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) in the space of nine years. In the 2022 documentary Tonight’s Homework, filmmakers Ashkan Nejati and Mehran Nematollahi put the same questions to a new generation of students at the same school. —Uday Bhatia
You will often hear, “is this my glass?”, at a party or a gathering, and, as I recently discovered, wine glass charms are the solution to muddled-up glasses and wine wastage. They are tiny decorations on a ring with a clasp that you slip onto the stem of the wine glass. I bought a pack of metal charms with bejewelled owls. They are elegant, and apart from helping guests distinguish glasses, they add sparkle to the glasses and create a few minutes of conversation. I got mine from the US-based online store Pier1 Imports, packs of six that can also be based on the theme of the celebration you are hosting, but I later found some far cheaper, silicone, sleepycat-shaped ones that wrap around the entire stem, on Amazon. —Shalini Umachandran
Demon 79 is the final episode of the latest season of Black Mirror and though it lacks any links with the show’s traditional sci-fi themes, it’s still one of Charlie Brooker’s very best. Set in racist England in the 1970s, the episode has classic grainy visuals and an eerie score. Anjana Vasan plays Nida, a shoe salesperson who unwittingly awakens a demon, played by Paapa Essiedu. Their chemistry is palpable, making for some great dark comedy. The demon, Gaap, is a rookie who looks like Boney M’s lead singer, and is cheerful and chatty as he guides Nida through murders she has to commit. The episode is gruesome, funny, and dark, but also topical with its racist side characters. Brooker and Loki writer Bisha K. Ali etch out the lead characters so well that one almost feels hopeful for them at the end.—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam
