Mystery in the male closet

Now comes a subscription service for men’s fashion that promises style without the fuss

Curated by Jane Borges, Sucheta Chakraborty and Cynera Rodricks

Finding gifts for men that are as rad as the ones they’d buy for themselves is tricky. So, here is an option that’s both convenient and surprising. Mestermor (“more for the mister”) is a subscription box service dedicated to  men’s fashion. Subscription services, whether for gifts or necessities, have grown in popularity. Becoming a member is like having a team of personal shoppers scour the country to upscale your wardrobe. They claim to have a box for every kind of guy—fitness fanatic, style maven and everyone in between.

You must first take a short quiz before you receive your personalised wardrobe in a box. It’s to assist the curators understand your style, fit, height, size and weight, and body type. Choose between the Essentials Box (handpicked products for everyday needs; R4,999) or the Indulgence Box (limited edition collections reserved for those with discriminating taste; Rs 14,999). Choose the frequency (once a month, twice a month, or three times a year) and wait for pieces from homegrown clothing labels like Toffle and Son of a Noble to premium, quirky accessories brands Sock Soho and Outback. Stationery store Paper Clip and men’s grooming brand Beardo are also part of the mix. You learn of the contents of each mix via mail before shipment, and exchange is possible. 
https://mestermor.com/

Escape into the world of verse

Meha Gupta, Arpita Adhya and Anithya Balachandran

Good literature is like balm for the soul. And in times like these, where uncertainty looms over everything, one can do with a lot of it, we feel. That’s what got Meha Gupta, Arpita Adhya and Anithya Balachandran together to start The Lit Archives on Instagram. This incredible page, which was started in September 2020, has some astounding works of verse, by great literary minds of our times. From Vikram Seth to Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali, Rebecca Hazelton and this writer’s personal favourite, Naomi Shihab Nye, this page is a treasure trove for any literature lover. We love their ‘Poet in Focus’ posts in particular, where they delve deep into a writer’s oeuvre, and offer a stellar curation of some of their best works in a series of slides. Sometimes, there’s a painting accompanying an excerpt from a writer’s work, and it becomes hard to decide what you love most about the post. “Audre Lorde wrote that poetry is not only a dream and a vision; it is the skeletal architecture of our lives. She goes on to write about how poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity and very much the crux of our existence. We believe poetry and literature are necessary for our existence, too. This pandemic has brought us closer to literature; we found comfort in poetry and sought solace in various other literary forms. The idea behind starting this page was to bring comfort to people, no matter how fleeting that comfort might be. We last temporarily, literature lasts forever. So, this little page was our humble attempt to be a reminder of the same,” the curators shared.  
@thelitarchives, Instagram

Everything has its place

The effects of the pandemic might have you feeling anything but organised, but there is Shreya Agarwal, a National Association of Productivity and Organising Professionals-certified organiser to help you. “Decluttering and organising have been a part of me since childhood. My immediate family and friends have always sought my advice and help when it came to managing their spaces. After the birth of our first child, I decided to take a break from corporate culture and switch to doing what I do best. “That gave birth to my venture Declutter with Shreya in September 2020,” she says. Agarwal assists clients in gaining more control over time and space, as well as reducing stress and increasing productivity, by providing information, ideas, and structure for keeping their spaces neat and organised. She now offers online sessions, and feels you don’t need fancy tools to declutter your space. In fact, one can begin by simply repurposing old shoe boxes, trays, phone boxes or even Amazon parcel boxes. As an organising product, anything that can contain items can be used. It is also important to remember that decluttering a space is not a one-time event. “The key is to do it consistently,” she says. “Schedule 15-20 minutes on your calendar once a week or once a month, and begin with a small project. Put on some music or your favourite show to make it more enjoyable. Once you’ve successfully decluttered and organised an area, give yourself a reward. Even as a professional organiser, I make time to keep my wardrobe and other spaces in good condition. You can limit yourself to one category per space.” Agarwal charges R1,000 to 1,500 per hour for at-home services, and Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for virtual sessions.
@declutterwithshreya, Instagram

A protest flowers from the earth

An installation titled Shaheed Smarak came up at Rajasthan’s Shahjahanpur to honour the 370 people—as of April 14, 2021—who died while participating in the farmers’ struggle. Ahmedabad-based artist Lalon saw it as an opportunity to engage with the protest in a real way. “Art is often placed in galleries for the benefit of intellectuals, but it’s a different experience when those from the grassroots, the ones the artwork actually addresses, react to it,” he feels. The structure, assembled by the artist with the help of farmers in under three days, is made up of traditional earthen pots fitted on iron rods, giving it the appearance of a bed of flowers.

Lalon

“Soil and iron were my primary materials; soil is associated with farmers and iron with strength. I wanted the materials to lend their own meaning to the work,” says the National Institute of Design (NID) graduate. The farmers who turned up at the site to pay their respects carried soil-filled earthen pots with them, and Lalon decided to make them a part of his work. The flower bed-like arrangement was inspired by that famous line by Pablo Neruda, now a powerful anthem of protest: “You can cut all the flowers but you can’t keep spring from coming”. Lalon says that the individual elements in his structure might look fragile, but their interconnectedness has contributed to their strength. In that too, the artwork is a lot like the farmer community, which united makes a formidable force. Since the lockdown won’t allow us to travel to see the artist’s work, we must appreciate it on his social media account. 
@lalonnolal, Instagram

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