If these are the worst of times, they are also the best of times. Don't believe us? We've got eight of India's creative savants to let you read their 2020 happy diaries
Sabyasachi Mukherjee
The style pages of the first Sunday of every new year are usually earmarked to discuss upcoming fashion trends. But this year, the blitz of the pandemic undid the game, promoting a broad shift in consumer aspirations and shopping habits, but also nudging designers and creators, with the canniest business instinct, to pivot on the side of personal well-being and reconfigure their priorities. And that is the positive opening story of 2021: to take happiness seriously.
So, what's for lunch today?
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Sabyasachi Mukherjee
I've been waking up each day to my mother's query: 'So, what's for lunch today?' She is my greatest critic; she has never worn a Sabyasachi outfit. That changed when I started cooking lunch and dinner for my parents and work assistants during the lockdown. After all my achievements, I feel I have finally arrived for them! It's wonderful and makes me happy. Before the pandemic, I practically lived at my factory. I admit I couldn't do so much as boil an egg. I got interested in cooking last year, specially making my blend of gentle, earthy spice masalas from scratch on the sill batta. The magic lies in the spices. Now I am addicted. I extract comfort from making old, forgotten recipes, cooking on charcoal fire. I sit down in front of my laptop for a few hours in the morning and browse YouTube for new recipes. There's an entire online universe of Indian housewife gastronomists making the most incredible food.
Unspoiled beauty of wild flowers
Anavila Misra
I don't care much for carefully cultivated and beautifully pruned flowers but wild flowers make me happy. To encounter an unexpected burst of flower-rich meadows growing unencumbered in quirky variations and unusual colours along the countryside is a joy. In a fickle world, vibrant pasturelands symbolise hope.
Discovering hidden notes
Amit Aggarwal
On occasions when I feel overwhelmed by my own emotions, I quickly jot them down; it could be in the form of a poem or just a bunch of thoughts. I tuck them into corners of the house or smuggle them inside my partner's studio and hide them inside his favourite books. When you re-read them, they bear traces of a journey of the place and feeling where they were written, a souvenir of a felt emotion. Memories are like that—they make storytellers of us all.
Cheering on a baby giraffe
Shyma Shetty, Huemn
This past year, I've lived and worked out of a glass-encased high-rise apartment in Ho Chi Minh City that overlooks a zoo and the Saigon river. The breathtaking panorama of the city apart, the best view hands-down is the baby giraffe at the zoo. She puts a smile on my face right away. It's one of those bittersweet emotions because I'm not a fan of animals in captivity. But, through a pair of binoculars, across my work desk, I have spent time following her routine inside the generously laid out green plot, cheering her on quietly as she cranes her neck to browse and reach the leaves. I ended up visiting the zoo once to meet her, and came away feeling like a voyeur who knew her too well. She didn't know me at all.
Pic courtesy/Mark Hanauer
Joining the 5 am club
Manish Malhotra
I was always an early riser but it is during the lockdown that I got into a discipline of waking up at 5 am. It's my feel-good time of the day, which is only mine. I also discovered walking; it's meditative and instantly puts me in a happy space. Following these two routines has helped give me a fresh perspective on life; we do everything to be part of this mad rat race when, in fact, we really don't need much to live a good life.
Picking parijat flowers
Rahul Mishra
To me, home is a feeling. To wake up early in the morning and visit two shiuli (parijat) shrubs in the front yard of my Noida home and spend almost an hour collecting heavenly-scented flowers, then running inside the home, asking everyone from Divya, my wife, to my daughter and parents to take in the fragrance. I usually arrange the flowers in bowls around my home. My family thinks I waste too much time each morning. It's happiness that money can't buy. I follow this morning routine later with the raat ki rani (night-blooming jasmine), picking up blooms and positioning them meticulously next to everyone's bedside tables. The gorgeous sweet, sensuous scent instantly puts you in a different mood; beating scented candles hands down.
To shut up and just sit
Masaba Gupta
I have found unexpected solace in the quiet, to shut up and just sit. My mind has never been so perfectly blank in years. And I don't believe it has to do with 'recharging'. I used to believe that I gave up easily, constantly changing the game but during the pandemic, the simple act of getting up and going became my saving grace. We get too caught up in negativity, when in fact, you can take control and make your own choices and understand the hidden powers of resilience. It's pointless to chase the next best experience when the moment is now.
First sip of coffee in a new city
Gautam Sinha, Nappa Dori
That first sip of coffee in any new city is the most thrilling. My love affair with coffee is no secret. Every time I travel, I search for the best coffee experience. I also collect coffee bean bags; I love the artwork on them. I can't do without my shot of espresso. I enjoy the pleasure of making my morning cup of coffee, which I am late for today, in my coffee makers (I own three) and grind my own beans.
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