LOUNGE LOVES

Things to watch, read, hear, do—and other curated experiences from the team

WMET A POEM

hile everyone was talking about red carpet looks from the Met Gala, what my unfashionable self loved most was that it led me to The Gardener, a poem by Alex Wharton. An excerpt of the work—the Welsh poet’s tribute to John Ystumllyn, one of UK’s first black gardeners —was sewn on a patch inside British F1 racer Sir Lewis Hamilton’s Burberry jacket. The seven lines epitomise beauty and rhythm. They led me to more of Wharton’s work, especially those in Creative Responses, the result of a 2020 initiative by the Welsh government. Wharton was commissioned to write on a few notable individuals of black heritage in the country, including rugby player Clive Sullivan and teacher Betty Campbell. Wharton’s six Creative Responses are free to read on the Cadw website.

— Vangmayi Parakala

IROCKET SCIENCE

NTHE ‘BABYGIRL’

icholas Galitzine made his Met Gala debut in a Fendi black suit, and in keeping with the “Garden of Time” theme, the tux had embroidered black flowers. All good, but perhaps too safe for an actor who is definitely having a moment— recently seen with Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You, which premiered on Amazon Prime. An older woman, a younger guy—they make a good pair. He plays Hayes Campbell, a member of the boy band August Moon. And, he can sing: Closer has a nice ring to it. This is the same guy who sizzled things up with Taylor Zakhar Perez in

Blue (2023). If you want to unwind after a hard day, watch Galitzine. He’s the “babygirl”.

—Nipa Charagi n summer, when the thought of eating hot food is enough to turn the stomach, discovering salad boxes by Samaki, a Bengaluru-based organic produce company, has been a blessing. The greens in the boxes are crisp and fresh and stay so in the fridge for almost a week. I am a huge fan of arugula/ rocket in salads—there’s something about the peppery, spicy flavour as you crunch a rocket leaf that’s intensely satisfying—and Samaki’s Arugula Mix salad box, with three-four varieties of red/green lettuce and cherry tomatoes thrown in, has become a hit in my household. With these, tossing a salad with a simple dressing (my usual is olive oil, a dash of apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper) is no rocket science.

— Shrabonti Bagchi

YREMEMBERING STEVE ALBINI

esterday, Steve Albini died of a heart attack at 61. He was one of the greatest producers and recording engineers of his time. He worked with Nirvana (on In Utero), Pixies, The Breeders, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai, among many others. My favourite album he produced might be P.J. Harvey’s Rid of Me (1993). Harvey sought out Albini after hearing Pixies’ Surfer Rosa. The resulting 14 tracks were raw, thrilling and at times genuinely disturbing. “He just sets up his microphones in a completely different way from which I’ve ever seen anyone set up mics before, and that was astonishing,” Harvey later said of Albini. “He’d have them on the floor, on the walls, on the windows, on the ceiling, 20 feet away from where you were sitting... He’s very good at getting the right atmosphere to get the best take.”

—Uday Bhatia