Lockdown has made each one of us turn into a house mouse, peering out of our little world only to lock our minds with screens, big or small. All day we are either caught up pounding away on our laptop. Or scrolling frenetically across Instagram, or getting hooked on to the many live streaming platforms that distract our tense heart from the gory news that is gnawing at us.
The Daily Guardian catches up with the super six young minds who are setting the Internet ablaze with their carefully-curated content. Mind you this selection is free of the pout brigade, the so-called influencers who, like the mercenary soldier, jump from one brand to another.
Radhikaraje Gaekwad: History teller
Ever graceful, stunning, a true Maharani and yet so humble at heart. These were attributes the world gave to Radhika Raje all the time. But in these lockdown times she has shown the world how Instagram can also be used effectively to create content and validate history. Creating great, copy-led content, she allowed the history seekers a view into the world of the Maratha kings of Baroda who were instrumental in making the city such a hub for art.
And her collaboration with Siddharth V. Shah (Curator Asian Arts at the Peabody Essex Museum) to celebrate the Baroda Week was a treat to the art seekers. She addressed the Lucknow Chapter of FICCI FLO, spoke on many pulsating Insta lives, and treated us with rare and rich imagery of the Baroda royals. She admits, “It’s been busier for me during this lockdown working with my page on Instagram,” which is, “A very powerful weapon that must be used with caution.”
For her, it was, “A way to reclaim the narrative of my family and present the legacy to the heritage seeker. It is a quest to put history into perspective and unlike other mediums the Internet pages allow you to tell your story in the most purist way.”
Maria Goretti: A real-life chef
She describes herself as, “ZZ’s keeper, Advanced PADI diver, poem maker and mountain climber”. Besides being a Le Cordon Bleu Chef, a gourmand cook book writer and a TV Host. While the Internet burst open with the world’s most celebrated chefs talking directly to you, it was Maria Goretti’s page that stole your heart with her simple recipe, catchy graphics, motherly one-liners and wifely tantrums. She laughs when she admits, “It kept me busy and got me to accept and make my peace with what the world is calling the new normal!”
The posts kept her occupied allowing her “to venture out to find ingredients, experiment, also learn something new”. And did she write? “Not a word. I am doing a book of poems, but I have not edited a word.” Though she feels that once this paused, in-between life ends, “The book will take a life of its own.”
Raghav Meattle: A new drishti cone
His chocolate-boy looks have the girls swooning. His songs capture the angst of the “City Life”, and his way with words make him as good an anchor as he is with songs and writings. Raghav Meatlle, a singer-songwriter, had the young world in splits right through the lockdown with his ‘Coneversations’ on Insta as Cone Daddy. A cult that instantly broke the Internet and created a ‘Cone-munity’ filled with young, aspiring artists. He recalls, “It was purely by chance that I hit upon this filter of an ice cream cone and I decided to sit inside it and start chatting with fellow artists.” Soon it became like a ‘Virtual open mic’ where people came and sang, others pinned comments and “I got to meet so many young artists.”
Currently he is all set to work on two new Hindi tracts with the group Shor from Hyderabad and the group Khwab. That is when he is not inside that cone having his followers crack up with a smile.
Pranay-Shounak: The new fashion guru
Pranay Jaitly and Shaunak Amonkar, though fashion graduates from Milan, understand heritage design and India Inc better than any other stylists in Bollywood. And it reflects in the way they style their clients: Vidya Balan, Kalki Koechlin, Radhika Apte, Mrinal Thakur, Richa Chadha and Chitrangadha in the most rooted, classic and purist way. With zero histrionics and controlled drama.
Right through the lockdown, their page WhoWoreWhatWhen was possibly the only page that kept its followers engaged as they set off on a self-discovery path offering a window to their own little world. As Pranay puts it, “Otherwise we never spoke about ourselves on the page, so, during this lockdown we decided why not let our followers know who we are… These three months have given us a chance to go inwards and possibly even discover who we are.”
Kamakshi: Songs for the soul
They say that a singer needs his or her audience. Myth will have you believe that music cannot survive if not played to an arena. Yet the young and beautiful singer-songwriter Kamakshi Khanna is finding new and interesting ways to not just keep herself and her followers busy but also do things that her busy life would not have allowed earlier. “This pause has made each one of us stop in our tracks and try something we always dreamt of but never had the time to do.”
Leaving behind a dream home in Mumbai that she had just taken up with her roommates, she hit the ground running with Insta lives, online concerts and her own little sojourns with her voice in her maverick backyard or in her Bohemian room filled with art of yore and energy of present. That is when she was not busy creating the visual content for her next single Qareeb, using mediums that are lockdown-friendly. “These are trying times that call for thinking beyond the ‘tried’ bastions.”
And she is doing that through a series of collaborations: With artists like Tejas Menon for whom she sang for the fun musical that punned on the conference call. With Rashmeet Kaur, the soulful Sufi singer, together they sang a cover of Lal Ishq and both singers got a major thumbs up. With pal and singer Abhilasha Sinha, with whom she connected right from Boston where Abhilasha is locked up right now. As they say when in lockdown, unlock your inner reserves.
Sumiran Kashyap: Sari Sartorialist
She makes every sari seem like poetry in reality. Her style personifies the aura of that proverbial apsara lost in her ethereal world. She goes from image to image supporting the creative sojourn of many hand-made legacydriven brands of the country… Sabyasachi Mukherjee in her own confession being her constant. “No denying that his design has my heart. Ever since I learnt to drape the sari and also got a moment to interact with the maestro and his creation up close I have never stopped loving his heritage story.”
A young lifestyle brand writer, Sumiran sees herself getting drawn to artisanal craft and the inherent connect beauty has with wellness. Her page Thinking Totty, through these three months, had filled the Insta world with beauty regimens of the past urging us to look inwards and pursue a life filled with nature. “I think I am an old soul who is reliving a past life dream.” Besides treating us with her visual grace she also is using the lock down to talk of forgotten practices of tarot and spiritual healing.