Life & Style

Hyderabad-based chain of cafes, Yummy Bee has opened doors in Bengaluru. The brand has three cafes to start with, and many more in the pipeline. The USP of Yummy Bee is its claim to be sugar-free, maida-free and preservative-free, and they are not just using them as buzzwords. All the desserts on the menu are made with plant-based sugar alternatives such as FOS and stevia, instead of maida they use a flour mix of millets and oats, and their pizzas are gluten free.

“I come from a background of fitness and nutrition having played cricket for India U-19 (south),” says founder Sandeep Jangala. “I am also someone who loves desserts and baking. So, when my daughter was born, I started baking a lot of healthy stuff for her. And that is how the idea of creating a healthy dessert brand came about. Over time an idea that started as a cloud-desserts brand has evolved into India’s first healthy QSR chain.”

Mini Korean garlic buns

Trend-forward menu

The menu ranges from sandwiches and pizzas, to rice bowls and grills. While guilt-free is the theme, the menu is fun, with lots of trendy and viral dishes. For example, I try the mini Korean garlic buns. Small buns that are made with Yummy Bee’s own flour mix, stuffed with herby cream cheese. The buns had a nice nutty flavour from the flour, and the cream cheese was delicious. Another viral dish you can have here are mini burgers. The bite-sized burgers are gluten-free, and have a roasted chicken or vegetarian patty.

The pizzas have a millet crust, that does not taste like a regular pizza but is delicious on its own right. I think the desserts are really where the menu shines. I try the chocolate brownie. Made with millets it has a deep nutty flavous and a fudgy texture. The Basque cheesecake is also a good option, served with a luscious chocolate sauce. You cannot taste the lack of regular white sugar in the desserts, however they are less sweet that usual.

Mini burgers

Safety of the sugar alternatives

Many people may feel that these sweeteners may not be safe or healthy. But Yummy Bee has a dedicated research and development team for testing and to ensure safety. “We use plant-based alternatives to ensure we stay away from concerns as much as possible. Plant-based sweeteners have already shown that they are safe and also part of GRAS protocol of US FDA.” Stevia is a plant native to South America that Native Indians have been using as a sweetener and as a medicinal herb for centuries. FOS is fructo oligo saccharides, another plant derived sweetener that is available as a liquid.

Gluten-free pizza

Up next the brand is planning to launch 15 outlets in Bengaluru, which include both cloud and physical dine in stores.

₹1,000 for two. At JP Nagar, HSR Layout and Koramangala

A legend from Mysuru, the Old Original Mylari Dosa, now has an outlet in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar. Since 1938, the humble hotel has been serving their signature masala dosas to celebs and noted politicians.

Reporting: Anagha Maareesha

Video & Editing: Ravichandran N

For Wayanad-based teacher, singer and poet Bindhu Irulam, who belongs to the Kattunayakan tribal community, poetry was woven into daily life from childhood. Listening to her parents narrate tales and sing songs after dinner under the moonlit sky, she developed an affinity towards the spoken word. She also affectionately recalls her uncle, who used to play her songs on an indigenous wind instrument.

As she grew up, Bindhu, more aware of the disappearing practices from her culture, took it upon herself to document the collective memory of her community in the Kattunayakan language — a blend of Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu but without a script. It is these efforts which have earned her the Kerala Folklore Academy’s Yuvaprathibha award recently.

“I was against receiving the award at first,” laughs Bindhu. “We feel sad about how our art was ignored for long. When the award committee reached out to me, I rejected the award. But then I thought, why deny it. I am happy that our art is getting recognised. It is an opportunity for us, from not having a stage to proudly claiming our space in the public sphere.”

Bindhu’s poems deal with her Kattunayakan identity, celebrating a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. “It hasn’t been long since we have been living in civilisation. We live close to nature. We consider it our god. We gathered from nature and lived off it.”

A few years ago, her poem Nanna Thod (My Stream) earned Bindhu the Special Jury Award from the Malayalam Sahitya Pravarthaka Sangham. She has also penned the lyrics for the track ‘Kulirikku neeraatti delile’ in Pada (2022), touted as the first song in Malayalam cinema in that language.

Origin Story

Bindhu Irulam
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Bindhu’s tryst with literature began in class VIII, when she wrote a play in their language with her friend for a competition and it won the award for the best play. A few years later, it was staged at the Keralotsavam youth festival, where it won the first prize.

The poet is also considered a talented singer specialising in Kattunayakan songs, which she learned as part of rituals in her community. These include art forms such as Bathatta, surrounding the harvest, and Thotti, a ritualistic art form related to girls’ first menstruation. “I have been collecting songs based around these rituals and performing them in schools.”

During the pandemic, Bindhu started compiling songs and writing poems in the Kattunayakan language. “I thought about what if more people read about our art forms, culture and oral history. I wanted the outside world to know more about it.”

“Initially, I was hesitant to speak our own language. There have been times when I was told to speak in Malayalam instead of our language. I never used to sing or speak in our language because of it,” says Bindhu, who recorded her poems and published them on social media. Seeing this, tribal poet and activist Sukumaran Chaligatha reached out to her to contribute to a compilation of tribal poems in the State.

“I write when I feel like writing. I used to see poetry in everything. I write about the past, our art, and our pain. I write that we are a group of people who used to live a certain life. But we don’t have our own food diet anymore. We used to collect meat, honey, roots and so on, from the forest. We no longer do it. We rarely hunted animals and used to eat what was left by tigers and leopards.”

Bindhu adds, “As time progressed, our rights were compromised. And when those rights were removed, our community’s way of life began to disappear.”

This week brings us news of two Madras-London connections that will soon cease to exist. The first is the British Council Library. The second is the Michelin-starred Veeraswamy in London. The 100-year-old restaurant – for it was in 1926 that it opened – was an icon for Indian cuisine.

The centenarian’s demise is not because of a drop in popularity but owing to the lease of its premises expiring. The Crown Estate, which owns the property, does not want to renew it, and a petition is being put together to be presented to King Charles. Veeraswamy’s only hope, at present, is that it stands as an example of British-Indian ties.

That led me to dig into its provenance. Veeraswamy, I always assumed, was a cook from Madras, who went to England and set up business. But that was not the case. It was founded by Edward Palmer, who promoted Veerasawmy (that was the original, and colonial spelling) & Co. in 1896 chiefly to export curry powder to the U.K., which was sold under the brand name Nizam. That was because the Palmers, as a family, had much to do with Hyderabad. General William Palmer was the progenitor – he, having served Warren Hastings as his confidential secretary and then risen high in the military and the administration. That was in the 18^th century. Palmer married a bibi from Oudh, Faiz Baksh (there are doubtful claims that she was of royal descent), and the son born of this union was John Palmer, who promoted Palmer & Co., which in the 19^th century made a fortune out of indigo and then lost it all in several shady deals.

Succeeding Palmers took on bibis, all Muslim, and Edward Palmer, the promoter of Veerasawmy, too, was probably born of one such union. Legend has it that the firm’s name was taken from that of his mother’s ancestors but that is most unlikely, given that Veerasawmy is a Hindu name. It was probably inspired from the typical names of Madras household help. The best-selling Notes from Madras, a cookbook written by Col. Kenney Herbert in 1878 and published by Higginbothams, for instance, uses Ramasawmy as the name for all Indian cooks!

Veerasawmy was, therefore, more of a marketing ploy – and it seems to have worked. Edward Palmer, whose father was an Agent of the Bank of Madras, left for England late in the 1800s and set up Veerasawmy & Co. The curry powder business was a success, and in 1924, he was invited to be advisor, Indian catering, to the Indian Government, at the British Empire Exhibition held at Webley. That led to the restaurant Veerasawmy’s in 1926. And almost the first dish on the menu was Madras Chicken Curry and Rice. What is of greater interest is the cookbook that Palmer wrote.

Titled Indian Cookery, For Use in All Countries, the book, published by Herbert Joseph Limited, credits the author as E.P. Veerasawmy! It is very clear that Edward Palmer had made the brand name part of his own identity. The preface has him claiming that he was fascinated with cooking from young and though he was sent to England to study medicine, he gave it up to focus on food. The book is dedicated to Palmer’s (unnamed) mother, who he writes was the greatest exponent of Indian cooking.

Was she from Madras, or at least Tamil? A perusal of the book would make you think so. The glossary of terms makes careful mention of Tamil equivalents such as yellumshika (lime), pullee (tamarind), tyre (curd), and thainga (coconut). He terms boiled rice as choroo. None of these words could have been known outside of Madras city or at most, the Presidency. He notes that Madras is particularly famous for puppadums. And then there is the plethora of dishes whose names are prefixed with Madras – prawn pilau, lamb pilau, chicken pilau, mutton (aatu) curry, and beef (madoo) curry – just to give you a few examples. The page on vudday (vadai) has it that Madras is famed for it, and it is seldom made at home. Hindus, he says, make it and hawk it on the streets just as crumpets and muffins are sold in England. The recipe for vudday begins with oolunthoo.

What is common to all the Madras dishes is the liberal use of curry paste, which brings us to the way that condiment was synonymous with this city for the colonial palate. Venkatachellums was already a renowned name from here in the same line and it would appear that Veerasawmy’s was a rival. When Palmer gave up the curry powder business and focused on just the restaurant is not clear. Even by 1930, he seems to have sold his interest in the restaurant and retired, becoming a lecturer on Indian food at various places. He died in 1947.

(Sriram V. is a writer and historian)

A visa is an official authorisation that allows a foreign national to enter, stay in, or leave a country for a specific purpose and period. The stamp, sticker, document, or electronic record is issued by a country’s authorities and permits a non-citizen to travel to and request entry into that country. 

It usually includes the following details:

• The purpose of the individual’s visit (tourism, work, study, transit, etc.)

• The duration of the individual’s stay in the country

• Number of times (single/multiple entries) that the individual can travel in and out of the country.

History

Visa, in its modern form, can be in a way compared to the sealed letters of the olden days that messengers carried from their kingdoms. It was one of the earliest forms of travel permissions that existed in ancient civilisations. For example, kingdoms often issued letters of introduction to merchants, scholars, and diplomats to ensure their protection while travelling. This is quite similar to the system of VISA that exists in the modern world, where students, working professionals and tourists receive different types of visas to ensure a safe and documented travel within the country they are visiting.

When did the system come in, though? It was especially after World War 1 that the modern visa system slowly emerged. When countries began having the need to regulate their borders more strictly for security and administrative reasons, passports and visas became standardised for international travel.

Importance of VISAs

One of the major reasons countries have a visa is to help governments screen travellers before entry and prevent illegal migration, crime, and security threats. It helps regulate who enters a country, for how long, and for what purpose, helping manage population movement.

Apart from these reasons, it also helps the country have control over access to jobs, education, and welfare systems, protecting domestic labour markets. Ensuring not anyone can tamper with a country’s internal matters. It also helps various fields like health during an event like a pandemic or tourism to calculate industry profits.

Types of VISAs

There are multiple kinds of VISAs an individual can attain to travel to another country. From short-term to long-term, here are a few common VISAs an individual can apply for.

Tourist Visa for leisure and short visits

• Student Visa to study, gain education and training in a country

• Work Visa for employment opportunities in a country

• Business Visa for indulging in trade and professional activities within a country

• Transit Visa to pass through a country while travelling (applicable only if you are stepping outside an airport in case of flight transits)

• An immigrant or Permanent Visa for long-term residence in a country

• Countries can have visa-free policies, a visa-on-arrival system or even electronic visas (E-visa) apart from the regular VISA for which we can apply online. Countries can also have visa-free or common visa policies with other countries, often based on mutual trust, low risk, and diplomatic ties.

The Indian system

India offers multiple kinds of visas, including tourist, business, employment, student, medical and conference visas for individuals who want to travel to the country. 

Architecture of Remembering art exhibition, currently on display at the Alliance Française de Trivandrum, explores the impressions left by people across “sites, objects and structures” as they interact with one another. The exhibition, featuring the works of Bengaluru-based artists Philippe Calia and Supriyo Manna, curated by Tak Contemporary, portrays the ever-evolving tapestry of urban existence.

The showcase combines the work of Supriyo, whose pieces are predominantly made from found materials, and Philippe, who uses technology to document his observations.

The exhibition opens with Cloud Atlas by Philippe, a series of satellite images of mining sites across the globe presented as cyanotypes, a type of photographic printing that does not use cameras. There are snapshots from Australia, Tanzania, the USA, South Africa and Armenia.

Philippe Calia
| Photo Credit:
Gokul P Dev

The artist created this work during the lockdown. “I could not go out to make images. I was compelled to work with what was available. The convenient thing was to browse the planet on Google Earth. What interested me were these ponds near mining sites, which are man-made structures where waste is stored. Initially, I had no idea what they were, and was awestruck by their size and colours.”

Another one of his works, Praxis du Souvenir, is a diptych displayed in a darkroom. One part of the installation is the photo of Philippe’s brother with their mother at a beach in France in 1977, and the other is a set of photographs of the same locale taken between 2016 and 2019. For the exhibition, he destroyed photos with chemicals and recorded their degradation and dismantling. These photographs were then stitched in reverse order. When one forms a discernible shape, the contents of the other disappear. “I am interested in that moment, where an image ceases to be a representation of something you can identify with,” he says.

Praxis du Souvenir at Architecture of Remembering
| Photo Credit:
Philippe Calia

In The Bodyguard Lane Album, Phillepe documents the migrant settlers of the eponymous street in Mumbai. “The families came from Gujarat in the early ‘50s. It was touching to see those family photographs with the street as the backdrop, where Bodyguard Lane had become a home. We were on the streets with cars passing us by; it felt like we were in someone’s living room”

In the work Nest of an Urban Ploceidae, Supriyo looks at the life of migrant labourers in Bengaluru. The artist labels them as agents of change in the city, yet they do not have a place to live. “They create informal settlements in the city. I tried to create a memoir or remembrance of those informal structures through this work.” Nest… is made of white acid-free paper cut into thin strips woven into a cubicle. “The delicate exhibit is a reminder of how we can create a fragile nest out of space, which speaks about these informal settlements.”

Supriyo Manna
| Photo Credit:
Gokul P Dev

Nest of an Urban Ploceidae at Architecture of Remembering
| Photo Credit:
Philippe Calia

Another one of Supriyo’s works, Anatomy of a Dead Garden, presents the “skeletal remains of a vanished garden erased by urban development”. The exhibit represents a garden that was destroyed to build a bus station in Bengaluru. “I collected one cut-down tree, created a mould of it and cast it with tracing papers, which are found materials from blueprint shops. I just took those discarded negatives, which carry the real data of structures built around the city.”

Anatomy of a Dead Garden at Architecture of Remembering
| Photo Credit:
Philippe Calia

The papers are stitched together with hair, depicting the fragiility of human-made structures. “From our perspective of development, it is very concrete but at the same time, from a philosophical point of view, we are changing this ecology, and making it fragile day by day,” he adds.

Field Notes, too, belongs to Supriyo’s list of site-specific exhibits containing sketches from construction sites. The work features latitudes and longitudes, which are labelled as man-made borders by the artist. “I tried to resonate that with my work, where I am also documenting certain boundaries or human-made restrictions.”

The exhibition is on till February 7 at Alliance Française de Trivandrum. Time: from 10am to 5pm.

Be it biker chic, rock, punk, or bad boy aesthetics, leather has always been a staple. But over the years, leather has moved beyond just jackets, bags and shoes. Now, they appear as elegant outfits, embellished corsets, pencil and fishtail skirts, and as trimming details. This year’s International Leather Fair in Chennai highlighted the material’s potential.

Held from February 1 to 3, the India International Leather Fair (IILF) launched with a fashion show at the ITC Grand Chola. The fair draws buyers from across the world. Private labels and sourcing agents use it to place orders and identify manufacturers across the State, which makes this an especially important show for the industry.

Organised by Indian’s Finished Leather Manufacturers and Exporters Association (IFLMEA) at the Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam, this is said to be Asia’s largest leather show.

The fashion show featured over 70 models and 14 showstoppers — models such as Manika Vishwakarma (Miss Universe India 2025), Ayushree Malik (Miss Supranational India 2025), Madhuram Daga (Rubaru Mr India International 2025) walked the ramp. About 13 labels exhibited their collections. The garments, accessories, and footwear displayed a rich spectrum of textures, styles and silhouettes fresh from the world of leather. The showcase unveiled a comprehensive leather fashion collection spanning men’s, women’s, and children’s wear.

“This show brings together the latest leather trends, colours, and textures, giving buyers a clear view of collections that are ready for business. We wanted to give the influencers an opportunity to see the products before reporting back to their companies,” said Yavar Dhala, co-convenor of the fashion show.

Leather apparel was all the rage this year. Brands like Perf reimagined leather as an everyday staple by integrating leather in athleisure and professional wear, along with accessories such as gym bags; while Central Leather Research Institute showcased leather garments (think bodycon dresses) and bags.

The segment by Ramjee Leathers and Supplies was inspired by the Wild Wild West with bold fashion forward pieces featuring cowboy hats, tasselled bags, and fringe vests. FDDI (Footwear Design & Development Institute) incorporated bling into their collection with rhinestone embedded jackets, and sculpted leather trench coats.

“This show carries a powerful legacy and plays a vital role in bringing India’s largely unorganised leather industry together. With global designers showcasing in India, it opens the market internationally and I’m proud to support such a meaningful initiative,” said Manika Vishwakarma, Miss Universe India 2025, who sported a brown leather corset.

Manika Vishwakarma, Miss Universe India 2025

Talking about what it takes to design a show of this stature, Bhaskaran Chandra Shekhar, the director of the fashion show, says, “Each walk is built around a brand’s DNA, its USP, its story, and how its leather craftsmanship speaks to an expert audience. In a limited time, we wanted to create stories that showcase leather as versatile, wearable, and design-driven.”

Kochi-based business strategist and consultant Haripriya P Raju developed a habit of working out a few years ago. However, around a year ago, Haripriya felt the need to diversify into other types of physical activities, such as sports. She soon set out to find a space for adult beginners, but could only find academies for children and serious athletes. “I couldn’t find a space with women my age, whom I felt comfortable with,” she says.

This thought evolved into a startup founded by Haripriya and her friend Sanna Stephen called Do Culture — “a women’s only sports and adventure community, created to give women a safe, beginner-friendly space to try movement and outdoor activities without judgment, pressure, or intimidation.”

Haripriya P Raju and Sanna Stephen
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The 26-year-old entrepreneur says she grew up seeing women who were accustomed to watching sports, yet when it came to playing, the spaces were dominated by men. Haripriya further points out that women were often reduced to spectators or they completely stayed away from these events.

Participants at Do Culture’s session in Kochi
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Do Culture has already organised three beginner-friendly sessions. “Most of the participants were playing football for the first time. It was not based on skill or fitness but a space where they could move, play and have fun. We instructed them on how to play and what to do. It is not based on a competition but is about giving women a starting point,” says Haripriya.

Also read: Two ex-Indian footballers from Kerala to set off on odyssey across tribal pockets with the goal of kick-starting academies

The community alternates between football and badminton sessions, organised on Sundays.

“Initially, it was difficult to find a football turf, because most of them are rented out in bulk to academies and companies. We also tried to find a female coach, but we couldn’t,” says Haripriya.

The cofounder says there were a lot of questions from men when she started this endeavour. They asked ,“Don’t men need space to play?” Haripriya responds, “Men already have enough spaces. The reason why women don’t get into sports isn’t that they are not interested. It is because they feel judged. When we made it women-only, we managed to remove that fear.”

Do Culture spread its message through social media and by requesting participants to raise awareness about it within their social circles. “Everyone who attended the sessions was delighted, but they all resisted leaving their houses internally. That needs to change.”

Participants at Do Culture’s session in Kochi
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Sruthi Suresh, a 27-year-old software developer from Kochi, came across a post about Do Culture on her friend’s social media feed. “It was something I had been searching for a long time. I like football and athletics, but even at my workspace, we only train during tournaments. And even if you were to play on a turf, it’s mostly men who play there. So when I got an opportunity like that, I grabbed it,” she says.

Sruthi adds, “All of us were strangers. But we had a lot of fun. The coach explained all the basics well. By the end of the session, we had become friends. When we play sports together, it’s not an ordinary meeting. It is an opportunity to bond more as well.”

Currently, Do Culture charges ₹199 per session. They will organise events in other adventure sports such as surfing, and hope to expand their operations to other districts as well.

Do Culture is available on Instagram under the handle @do.cultr