Life & Style

Powered by a 2.0-litre MultiJet II diesel with available 4WD, the Meridian balances comfort with go-anywhere capability
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Darcy and Company, Rashmi Naik 

Rashmi Naik
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Rashmi Naik loves breakfast and looks forward to it every day. “Breakfast is the new dinner. In fact, I would argue that breakfast is the little black dress of all meals,” says the founder of this Puducherry-based micro-bakery that specialises in making small batch breakfast cereals using high-quality ingredients. 

As a lifelong fan of Jane Austen, “such a wonderful role model for women,” Darcy and Company is named after the founder’s favourite literary character, Austen’s famous romantic hero, Mr Darcy. “There are things in the business to take seriously, but you should also have the opportunity to have fun. And Jane Austen allowed us to do that,” explains Rashmi, who recently introduced four limited-edition flavours of granola to mark Austen’s 250th birth anniversary to her product range: Longbourn & Pemberley (Shortbread), Chatworth House & Barton Cottage (Scottish Cranachan), Camden Place & Netherfield Park (Sticky Toffee Pudding) and Hartfield & Highbury (Chocolate Orange). 

Rashmi, who has a background in public policy, advocacy and communications, first began making granola in 2021, when she moved to Puducherry from Mumbai. In an attempt to eat healthier, she began experimenting with breakfasts of homemade granola and yoghurt, “along with fruit, which took care of more than half the protein we required for our breakfast,” she says, pointing out that while people are often focused on eating right, it also needs to be accessible and easy to put together.

For her, a bowl of granola with Greek yoghurt, a drizzle of nut butter and seasonal fruit is an easy lift. “It is satiating, guilt-free and competently does the job of hitting all the right spots. More importantly, it is sustainable; the chances of you getting bored or tired easily are low, and it can be had at any time of day,” says Rashmi, who finds this sort of versatility “most appealing.”

She started by sharing her slow-baked granola, crammed with ingredients like activated nuts and seeds, with family and friends. As demand for this “delicious” product, made with “clean ingredients,” increased, she finally decided to go the entrepreneurial route.

“The journey from a home-based enterprise to a commercial enterprise began with customised corporate orders and hampers in December 2024,” she says. Then, in early 2025, Darcy & Company sponsored a series of women’s cricket premier leagues in gated communities in Mumbai.

“All the sportspersons got to pick a granola from the menu, and that in many ways worked very well from a research and test marketing perspective,” says Rashmi, who went on to incorporate All Things Breakfast Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of the micro-bakery, in July 2025.

“We are a women-owned business; the other two directors are Monisha Advani, producer and founder of Emmay Entertainment and Rajeshree Naik, co-founder of Ping Network and India Food Network.”  

Today, Darcy & Company operates from a 3,500 square foot central kitchen located in Puducherry, with its main suppliers based in and around the area. While the current range includes flavours like Ancient Grains, Apple Strudel, Banana Bread, Cacao, a house blend- Classic, Gingerbread, Juniper Berries, Strawberries & Fresh Cream, Peanut Butter & Jelly and Tropical, more offerings are on their way.

“We are launching new innovations, including granola butters, a range of nut butters, and cereals made with heritage grains such as rye and buckwheat. The breakfast table is expanding, and Darcy & Company wants to be a part of that spread,” says Rashmi, who believes that the market for products like these in India is growing at a very decent 12-15 CAGR with more young Indians willing to experiment with food and take better care of themselves.

“While India has so much to offer from a culinary perspective, young India is looking for diversity in taste and hungry for brands that are look, feel, and are truly global,” she says. 

Darcy and Company’s granolas can be ordered online via their Instagram page, via WhatsApp (9820978346) and website. They are also available in The Spot, Puducherry. 

Safe Bee, Nidhitra Rajmohan

Nidhitra Rajmohan and Krithik Maknur Shivaram
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

As a professional sportsperson, Nidhitra Rajmohan has been eating mindfully since the age of 15. “Because of tennis, I was conscious of cutting down sugar and processed ingredients,” she says.

As a result, she, with her mother and grandmother, regularly made many nutrition-focused snacks and cereals at home. During COVID-19, as more and more people began focusing on health, she and her family started offering the snacks to residents of their gated community.

“Through WhatsApp, we would say that we were making this, and to let us know if anyone wanted it. Slowly, more and more people began asking for them and it grew from there,” says the Coimbatore-based Nidhitra, who, with her co-founder Krithik Maknur Shivaram, formally founded Safe Bee in 2023.

What started as a small, home-based lockdown venture now offers over 60 products and operates out of a 2,500 sq ft certified manufacturing unit in Coimbatore. All products in the range, including breakfast cereals, nut butters, nutrition bars, and dessert bites, are nutrition-forward, made with minimal processing, no added sugar, and lactose- and preservative-free.

“In terms of ingredients, one of our main philosophies was not to add anything we were not sure of,” says Nidhitra. They also wanted to keep ingredients minimal.

For example, their Cacao Almond Ragi Millet Muesli only contains one grain: ragi. “Most breakfast cereals have a lot of grains mixed in, and it always took a long time to digest before a training session,” she says, adding that their cereal range has a maximum of four to five ingredients.

“It is completely gluten-free and vegan. We also offer allergen-friendly, customisable options. For example, if somebody is nut-allergic, we can do it without nuts.”

Around 60% of Safe Bee’s ingredients, such as cacao, millets and some seeds, are sourced directly from farms, while the others are imported or procured from local dealers. “We don’t get anything processed from outside…only whole ingredients, which we process in-house. Even our chocolate is made from scratch,” she says. According to her, the products have “balanced macros and micros. I know there is so much focus on protein, which is good, but we need a balance of everything.” 

One of the biggest challenges of creating foods that are hand-screened and processed naturally is that it takes a few days to ship an order, an anomaly in the age of 10-minute deliveries. “Seventy out of a 100 are okay with slower deliveries, but some customers keep asking us why we are delaying,” says Nidhitra, who is working on finding ways to quicken the process. She is also excited to soon launch a new product line: “Pancake mixes with minimal ingredients. That is next for us.”

Safe Bee’s products are available at select stores in Coimbatore or can be purchased on the website. 

Hola Granola, Tracy Thomas 

Tracy Thomas
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Even as a child, Tracy Thomas did not enjoy a typical cooked Indian breakfast. “Dosa was okay, but nothing else,” says the Kochi-based home cook and founder of Hola Granola, which offers a range of small-batch, preservative-free granolas and snack bites.

Back then, the only cereal available in India was cornflakes, so she would often ask family living abroad to bring other cereals when they came down for holidays. “Even after I got married, whenever I travelled abroad, I would look out for niche brands,” says Tracy, who loves having granola for breakfast because “it is quick and easy.  I feel it is a no-brainer; you don’t really have to prep anything or think too much.” 

In 2021, during COVID-19, she started making granola at home and giving it to her close friends. “Everyone liked the taste, and asked me to consider doing it as a business,” she says. For almost three years, she operated out of her home, selling her product through word of mouth. “The products were not sold out of any stores. It took me a while to start doing it officially, getting the necessary licenses and things like that.”

Tracy experimented for a long time to arrive at the three flavours of granola she currently retails: The Classic, The Ultimate, and Cocoa Granola.  “It took many trials. I don’t like sugary things, so while I use jaggery as a sweetener, I use very little, just enough to bind.”

Tracy drew on the memories of all those granolas she had tasted abroad to reverse engineer what she had liked about those other brands. While some ingredients used in these granolas, like almonds and oats, are imported, many are sourced locally, including cashews, cacao, jaggery, and coconut oil, says Tracy.

This granola is different from anything available commercially, says Tracy. “While I’ve tried a few small-batch options in India, I’ve not loved anything, to be honest. That this is one reason why I started this.”  

While she continues to make the granola at home, Tracy has now established a separate kitchen for it and is experimenting with new flavours.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to launch two more this year,” says Tracy, who believes that while people are more conscious about what they put into their bodies, the shift from mass-produced cereals to craft versions is slow.

“I feel the market needs a lot more education, in terms of looking at what’s on the label. Also, they need to realise that if a cereal has a year-long shelf-life, there has to be something in it,” she says, pointing out that products like hers still occupy a niche market. “Brands have to build awareness, meet people’s needs and be functional. We will slowly get there.”

Hola Granola’s products can be ordered online on their website. You can also opt for a subscription model

Tithi watches by TimeGraphers x Delhi Watch Company
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

If you have travelled to Europe even once, you are bound to encounter a stale joke. It is about how European powers waged wars against indigenous populations in the global South to own and exploit spice plantations, but the spices – except for pepper – never found their way into European cuisine. It is a tongue-in-cheek truism about the blandness of European food and having lived for about a decade in Germany, I can confirm there is truth to it.

But things were looking up for us one autumn day in Rotterdam.

“Karaa ide,” said my Bangalorean friend digging into her smashed fried chicken – Ayam Penyet – smothered with coarsely saucy, deep-red sambal. Her forehead was sweating, her eyes were red and watering with tears of sweet torture from the chillies ground and mashed into the sambal. I watched her as she struggled with her meal and dug into my own Ayam Penyet – we had ordered the same thing.

Sambal oelek, an Indonesian chilli paste
| Photo Credit:
Wikimedia commons

My friend’s Ayam Penyet at Waroeng EmJay in Rotterdam was the spiciest she ate in all her travels to Europe. With the blandness of European food dulling her senses during our travels, we went in search of Indonesian restaurants in Rotterdam and landed at the one we were sitting in.

Waroeng EmJay didn’t look much from the outside – its lime green signboard needed fixing years ago; it squatted in a less frequented street next to another flashy Asian restaurant that served Vietnamese food. But its tables were brimming with patrons – both European and Asian, its sambal scented airwaves gently clanged with a smattering of Bahasa Indonesia and Dutch. Always a good sign, I might have told my friend.

I won’t lie, I have had dreams of Waroeng EmJay’s Ayam Penyet since then. Sometimes my partner and I drive across the border from Germany to eat a meal of Nasi Goreng in border cities like Venlo. On my recent trip, when I visited a friend in Den Haag I asked her to take me to her favourite Indonesian restaurant and we ate Nasi Ayam Bakar Padang — grilled chicken with a green chilli sambal and stewed cassava leaves — at Waroeng Padang Lapek.

This time, when I found myself in Rotterdam for the IFFR film festival, it felt like my duty to investigate how the Netherlands became home to Europe’s best Indonesian food. Was it simply because of its colonial legacy? Afterall, the Dutch East India Company invaded Indonesia in the 16th Century to capture and monopolise the spice trade before ceding ground to the British.

I asked my television news editor-turned-train driver friend Tom Van Hal, whose career pivot I bookmarked to discuss on a later day, if it’s true Indonesian food is widely available in the Netherlands because of its colonial past. He broke my confirmation bias, shattered my perception, and to my dismay, told me my reasoning is probably not even partially correct.

“The answer is a little more complicated,” he said. “Chinese immigrants in the ‘60s and ‘70s started restaurants they called Chinese Indonesian restaurants, not with traditional food but with dishes that they made up that catered to the Dutch taste. That was the first exotic food in the Netherlands, and I ate that a lot in my childhood.”

Nasi Goreng, an Indonesian rice dish
| Photo Credit:
Wikimedia commons

Van Hal remembered eating generic grilled pork dishes like Babi Panggang smothered with equally generic mild red sauces. Those restaurants flourished for decades because it perhaps appealed to a boomer generation’s colonial nostalgia. But they lost their standing when the younger generation, experimental and hungry for new cuisines and flavours, sought out more. Now the Rijsttafel, literally a rice table with rice and accoutrements of side dishes, is a staple when the Dutch eat out in groups.

There is not much research on the area, but I found from a recent study published in the International Journal of Current Science Research and Review that Retno Marsudi, the Indonesian Ambassador, was quoted as saying in 2013, “Indonesian food is like the second national food in the Netherlands.” This may be nationalist pride speaking because an entrepreneurial generation of Asians made it so.

I discovered there is some truth to what Van Hal said on the last day of my current trip to Rotterdam. At Kampong Express, hoping to eat Nasi lemak (admittedly the Malaysian national dish but also found in parts of Indonesia like Sumatra), I was greeted by a gaggle of Chinese aunties bustling around the kitchen and the service area.

Greeted is an overstatement because I found a just-vacated table myself and asked the server who nodded her head in assent. It felt like an early bird catches the worm situation. At lunch time, Kampong Express was packed with diners. It had a mix of Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian staple on its menu, turmeric yellow Jianbing crepes overflowing with fillings, luscious chicken satay, nasi goreng and Nasi Lemak in at least five variants.

Nasi lemak in Kampong Express
| Photo Credit:
Prathap Nair

I ordered Nasi Lemak with boneless chicken and a drink of canned coconut water. When my order came and the sambal hit my mouth, I realised it was not spicy, nonetheless flavourful on my tongue in a balanced, savoury way. The tender chicken bits were enrobed in crispy breading and went down with a crunch. The spiralised cucumber and sprouts were well seasoned and the whole meal was further enhanced by the umami punch delivered by fried anchovies.

The gastronomical landscape in today’s Netherlands is a veritable ocean of choices and colonial connection may have very little to do with it. The country today offers every imaginable cuisine from Surinamese to Korean fried chicken to döners and Chinese hand-pulled noodles.

Colonial Europeans may have missed out on boosting their own cuisine’s flavour profile with the spice trade’s culinary loot that enriched them financially. But younger generations are getting a taste of it in their own land, often made by people to whom it rightfully belongs. If that is not decolonisation is, I don’t know what is.

Published – February 17, 2026 05:43 pm IST

When I close my eyes, I am back on that hill in Kottayam, at my grandmother’s house. Though cousins, uncles and aunts constantly drifted in and out through the summer holidays I spent there, the house with its high ceiling and large windows never seemed crowded. There was always space for more.

The dining room had a massive dining table that was always laden with food: nadan dishes like erachi olathu, meen vevichathu and unniappam; Western experiments such as fish pancake, gateau mocha and shepherd’s pie; and even shrimp chopsuey and Chinese chicken.

At the heart of it all was my grandmother, Mrs BF Varughese, clad in her signature white chatta and mundu, calm and unhurried.

Although to me she was simply my grandmother, Mrs Varughese was a formidable presence in the culinary world. Her books, originally meant for households in Kerala, travelled far beyond the State, carried by generations of Malayalis. 

The warmth with which people are welcoming the re-release of her most popular book, Recipes for All Occasions, 52 years after it was first published, is a testament to its lasting influence, even in an age of YouTube tutorials and app-delivered meals.

Mrs BF Varughese
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

When the house finally quietened, and the children and grandchildren returned to their homes, my grandmother would retreat to her pantry with her loyal assistant, Ouseph. Overlooking an orchid garden, it was adjacent to a large, fragrant storeroom lined with jars and bottles, pickles and preserves. This was her private laboratory. It was here that she measured, tested, adjusted, tried and tried again.

She was almost monastic in her discipline. 

Long before the Internet collapsed distances, my grandmother opened windows to the wider world from a kitchen in Kerala. Dishes like piroshky and moussaka found their way, improbably, onto Malayali tables. She always loved to cook, but it was my grandfather who gently spurred her on and turned that love into a serious pursuit.

Her first book originated in the late 1950s when Kerala Dhwani, a Malayalam newspaper, approached my grandmother who was in her early thirties then, to write two recipes every week for its Sunday edition. My grandfather, BF Varughese, her first editor, urged her to say yes. She did, and for two and a half decades, she never missed a single Sunday column.

Every recipe was tested at home, using locally available ingredients, and simplified to make the cooking process accessible. When she travelled, she prepared recipes in advance, enough to last until her return. Her writing had the same uncomplicated clarity as her cooking. Her popular five-minute biryani is a good example, as it offered a convenient and simplified version of a traditionally laborious dish.

After close to a decade of the Sunday column, the publishers suggested that she gather these recipes into a book. That is how Pachakarani Part 1, in Malayalam, came to be, in 1963. It went on to become an instant bestseller, and was followed by seven sequels, each featuring a fresh collection of recipes.

Responding to requests for an English edition, Pachakarani volumes 1 to 3 were compiled and translated from Malayalam to English as Recipes for All Occasions – Part 1. Volumes four to six became Recipes for All Occasions – Part 2, and volumes seven and eight were brought together as Recipes for All Occasions – Part 3.

The newly redesigned and reformatted edition with all three volumes of Recipes For All Occasions
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Curious about her legacy, I went looking for people who still cook from the early books. Speaking from New York, Chef Regi Mathew, who runs Chatti in Manhattan, says the book has influenced his menus. “Recipes for All Occasions was a prized possession in our home. Over the years the book became gently worn, bearing the marks of repeated use. On my 50th birthday, my mother gifted me her copy and this was a deeply emotional moment. Passing on not just a book, but decades of memories, flavours, and family history,” he says.

Adding that he referred to the book before launching his Kappa Chaka Kandari restaurants in Chennai and Bengaluru, which pivot on Kerala home cooking, Regi says, “The book offers an invaluable snapshot of a certain time, mindset, and culinary vocabulary. Even today, I use it for reference; to understand context, technique, and intent.”

Jacob Mathan, retired Principal and Director, Food Craft Institutes, Kerala, who inherited the book from his late mother says it played a part in his decision to enroll for Catering Studies at the Institute of Hotel Management, Chennai. He says. “It used to be part of the brides’ trousseau in Kerala and many generations of young women, including my wife, started cooking with this.”

When Manju Sara Rajan, editor-in-chief of beautifulhomes.com, moved to Kottayam 12 years ago, she says she discovered the books and “fell in love with the original series”. She adds, “Mrs BFV was responsible for putting a hybrid menu on the Malayali dinner table. She was well travelled but she was also living in a time when ingredients and ideas were in short supply locally so she adapted what she tasted and liked elsewhere for the local table. I like some of her odder recipes like the sardine sandwich fry, which sounds like a pescatarian meatball… I was thinking that Mrs BFV would have made quite the influencer today. Guess she is now, with the release of this edition”

These books lived in my mother’s kitchen too, their pages softened by use, the margins annotated. They stood alongside other cook books, but carried something distinct: the voice of a woman who cooked not to impress, but to include.

The newly launched book consolidates recipes from all her books. Photos have been added and the layout has been redesigned. Units and measures have been standardised.

The cover bears a sketch of my grandmother wearing a white chatta and mundu. She was never one for grand gestures, but with this edition her presence endures, in kitchens she never entered, in hands she never held, in people she never met.

When I think back to that house on the hill, to the pantry, to Ouseph chettan, to the endlessly replenished chocolate boxes and the table that was always full, I realise that, that the cookbook was never just a book. It was a way of saying: you are welcome here.

Recipes for All Occasions by Mrs BF Varughese is priced at ₹1,750 and is available on Amazon. The current edition is a limited print run of 1,000 copies.

Representative Image
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Cosplayers from Comic Con 2026
| Photo Credit: Johan Sathyadas

“Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and many others. India belongs only to me,” — these lines by one of India’s visionary artists, Amrita Sher-Gil, embody her enigmatic life. Born in Budapest in 1913, she lived across Europe until her untimely death in Lahore at the age of 28. Her words were not mere bravado, but the distilled truth of a life lived at the crossroads of continents and cultures.

A new play, by Ishara Puppet Theatre, brings Amrita Sher-Gil’s life to the stage. She defied conventions and challenges and became one of the most influential figures in global art. Through vibrant puppetry, kaleidoscopic sets, video projection, classical music and emotional storytelling, the production celebrates her legacy.

Designed and directed by Dadi D. Pudumjee and performed by Ishara Puppet Theatre — the 60-minute production in English — narrates her tale through puppetry for the very first time. It is based on a project undertaken by five art students, who bring alive her life story through paintings, letters and biographical accounts. 

Vignettes from an iconic artist’s life
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Each year, the Ishara Puppet Theatre and group create a new performance, some for children, others for young adults and mature audiences. “After our play, Be Yourself, I found myself drawn towards a theme around art. That search naturally led me to Amrita Sher-Gil. Many people know her iconic paintings and her short, dramatic life, but once we delved deeper we realised there was much more to showcase,” says Pudumjee, a puppeteer and founder of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust.

The foundation of the play’s research lay in Amrita’s letters to her friends and family, which unravel her intellect, wit, vulnerability and fierce independence. “We also drew from documented biographies, archival photographs and critical studies of her paintings. Rather than simply presenting facts, we immersed ourselves in her voice — her doubts, confidence and her sense of destiny. Her correspondence forms the emotional spine of the play. The research phase was deeply engaging, allowing us to move beyond the myth and into the lived experience of a young woman — negotiating identity, culture and artistic ambition,” shares Pudumjee.

The scholarly writings of Yashodhara Dalmia and the archival compilations by her nephew Vivan Sundaram were invaluable. “Vivan’s volumes, in particular, provide intimate access to Amrita’s letters, photographs and personal reflections. We were also inspired by accounts from relatives — in Hungary and India — which offered a cross-cultural perspective of her life. These sources helped us understand not only her artistic development but also the emotional and geographical worlds she inhabited. The play does not replicate these material directly, but they informed the texture and authenticity of our interpretation,” says Pudumjee.

Each year, the Ishara Puppet Theatre and group create a new performance, some for children, others for young adults and mature audiences
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

It may have started as a passing idea, but the play took shape from one of Amrita’s black-and-white images displayed at a café in Paris, where she is speaking with fellow students. Actors, puppeteers, designers, and musicians shaped it further from an image in a cafe. From this emerged the concept the five art students worked on. “For the first time an Ishara production combines actors with naturalistic puppets in a more integrated manner.”

Music plays a vital role in Ishara’s productions. “It carries emotional transitions and atmospheres beyond words. The costume, sculpture, light and movement add layers to the storytelling. Theatre is never a solitary act, it is a shared act of imagination between artistes and dreamers working toward a single vision. For me, theatre must always push boundaries, just as Amrita did,” says Pudumjee.

Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life Lived premieres on February 22, 4 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

Published – February 17, 2026 02:46 pm IST

Mattancherry’s Bazaar Road is a hive of activity on a working day, trucks loaded with merchandise jostle for space with smaller vehicles and pedestrians, some of them tourists, warehouses line the water-facing side of the road and a dusty smell of jute sacks and spices hangs in the air. 

With the Biennale, some of these warehouses have transformed into art galleries showing art from across the country and the world. Sandwiched between these are teashops and tiny shops selling quotidian merchandise. It is chaotic, but, if you close your eyes for a few seconds you can easily imagine Mattancherry’s past, and present, as a trading outpost.  

The wall painting by The Tresspassers at Armaan Collective
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT

Quite a few of the warehouses are in varying states of decrepitude, age weighing heavily on them, their facades and parts of some of the buildings are dilapidated. In the middle of all this sits a warehouse with a white and grey facade with an inconspicuous black board that announces Armaan Collective. In the front are a row of six small stores. 

It is also one of the venues of the Biennale collateral, Edam, curated by Aishwarya Suresh and KM Madhusudhanan, a showcase of the Kerala artists. The other venues are Cube Art Space and Garden Convention Centre.

A short, narrow passageway leads to the warehouse. And nothing prepares you for the sight… at the far end one can see the waters that helm in Mattancherry and Fort Kochi, and bobbing on them are brightly painted anchored fishing boats. The central courtyard has a lawn with benches around it, facing the waters is a covered space with minimalist benches where you can take in the waters and life on them. The walls which backdrop the lawn has striking images of Kochi-based body builder Bhumika, while the wall facing the waters has art by the Trespassers.

And this is just the first impression, there is a lot more happening in the space. 

The brains behind Armaan Collective are entrepreneur/businessman Arun Mooken and his wife, Ria. Arun says, “We [the space] have been part of all the Biennales, including this one. What happens is that warehouses like these open for four months of the Biennale every two years and I felt it was time to change that. I wanted to revive the old Mattancherry, which was a cultural hub and commercial powerhouse of Kerala.” Rather than wait for the Biennale to start something, he decided to do something with this space. Another of their warehouse’s 111 Markaz is also a Biennale venue.

From the Edam show
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT

The outsourced stores, he says, are a depiction of some of the traditional industries of Kerala: pottery, spices, tea, coir and, one of Arun’s favourites, chips. Studio Beyond Maya, The Steep House of Tea Stories, Malabar Chips, Coz Cafe and The Yard Pop-up are the brands that have taken space at Armaan, which has quickly become one of the city’s popular hangout spaces with the music performances.      

The central courtyard, the chukkukalam (chukku is dried ginger, kalam is the courtyard) has transformed into the prakadana kendram, a performance space, where Arun hopes to hold “kalari, Kathakali and dance performances, the traditional performance art forms.” 

The space will open the year through, the stores too.  Says Reeja U of Malabar Chips, “We decided to open a store here because, of course, Mr Mooken invited us and also since it gives us access to a wider clientele.” This is the first Malabar Chips outlet apart from the main shop near the Ernakulam South railway station. Studio Beyond Maya has been conducting pottery sessions over the past month at Armaan. Arun plans to make space for a couple of stores more, but post-Biennale.  

One of the highlights of Armaan Collective is without doubt the Coz Cafe outlet, Coz Layover. Especially eye-catching is the roof above its seating space made of repurposed doors, which makes it a quirky mosaic of colours and surfaces. Another is the listening room for vinyl enthusiasts, Vinyl Sound Bath Listening Room, also known as the Red Room.

Coz Layover, the coffee shop at Armaan Collective
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT

A narrow wooden staircase on the side of the cafe leads to the first floor, where part of the Edam show is being exhibited. The rest of the show is on at the spaces on the ground floor adjacent to the Listening Room.

Edam is on show in the 4,000 square foot gallery space spread across various rooms at Armaan. Arun, however, does not intend to use all the space as an art gallery in the future. “We will use half of that as a gallery space or part of the floor. If I use the entire area…I don’t want the space to be called the Durbar Hall of Mattancherry. I want to promote art and tradition.” He is referring to the Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Ernakulam. 

This space, Arun says, “I want to keep it traditional, maintain the ambience and spirit of Mattancherry — a little traditional, a bit rustic and edgy!”      

Published – February 17, 2026 02:22 pm IST

Diya John with the ‘Coastal King’, at her pop-up in Fort Kochi
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT