Posted by Neha

I'm Neha, the newest minion at BPB. I've recently moved back after five years on the West Coast. After a longish stint in Fog City, a.k.a San Francisco, I'd gotten stronger calves and hipster genes, but I apparently didn't have enough sunshine or kathi rolls. I've been lost since I've moved back, trying to find my way around the city that I grew up in. But five years has changed the face of Bombay and it's been hard to regain the familiarity with the city I once had. Of course, it didn't help that I got jaundice my first month back and was out of commission for a while. But like Mansi says, Bombay makes its deserters go through trials of biblical proportions (bugs and floods) before it can whole-heartedly welcome you back.

I was recommended a Turning Tables event by a friend, which is where I met the Secret Scouters. The night was fantastic and dinner even more so, it almost felt like being privy to an exclusive underground club.

Since I couldn't wait to put all my computer programming experience under a carpet somewhere, I scored an internship with BPB, plus, they were nice enough to wait for me until I was a lighter shade of yellow.  

The girls are even more fun in person than they are in print. My initiation to the Secret Scouters club is going to be something ridiculously embarrassing, but to expect anything less would be underestimating them. Not only have I now won first dibs on everything that is cool in Bombay, but I am hopefully two really fun friends richer.

Posted by Kanika

Think of three random things. Now say them out loud. What’s that you said? Breast feeding, imported fruit, Loksatta. I have a press release for each of these sitting in my inbox. Seriously.

Despite (repeated) polite requests that certain activities, political parties and fruit do not fit into any of brown paper bag’s verticals, the surge of emails continue to come. More so now, during the holidays when greetings are in overdrive. They keep me entertained though, as I'm ever amused at the number of things that need “immediate release”. Listed below are a few of these minus company and brand names.

‘Weekend Breastfeeding Workshop’: I’ll take the photography for beginners this Sunday, thanks.

‘Mermaids are Back’: Watch real women dressed like mermaids, holding their breath and swishing around in a giant tank while you eat their lesser evolved finned cousins at a seafood restaurant. Do you like your women scurvy?

'Mr USA Bodybuilder of Two Consecutive Years Comes To India': Do you want to take this or should I?

'Global Launch of 100% Pure New Zealand Apples': Bite me! 

And there'll be more next week, pulp and politics. I just know it.

The secrets to life’s important lessons are revealed in our new video series, where experts from all walks of life teach you vital tasks in two minutes or less. We kick off with Bollywood hunk Arunoday Singh demonstrating a perfect push-up.

The secrets to life’s important lessons are revealed in our new video series, where experts from all walks of life teach you vital tasks in two minutes or less. We kick off with Mad O Wot founder Sapna Bhavnani, who shows you how to cut your own fringe. Pay attention!

Watch at your own risk!

Posted by Mansi

A friend recently commented that I’m the last person he imagined would jump onto the “tattoo bandwagon”, and I could see where he’s coming from: I’m essentially sceptical of things that are permanent, because I can’t imagine how they’ll remain relevant in lives that are changing as rapidly as the ones we inhabit today.

I am, therefore, the least likely candidate for a tattoo. Yet I have not one but two, and am well on my way to acquiring a third.

For me, a tattoo represents a state of mind, a place in time, a perspective on life that deserves to be preserved. I got my sailboat during my second year in Mumbai, when I was beginning to feel stagnant and wanted to remind myself of the many journeys to come, as well as celebrate the fact that I was after many years back at home, in a safe, unsinkable place.

Would I still want a boat riding the nape of my neck when I turn 50? Probably not. But hopefully I’ll still want to remember the 27 year old who felt profoundly enough about something to have it etched into her skin forever. And here's the other thing - getting one hurts a lot less you would imagine. Really, I found it less traumatic than having my eyebrows done (Thank you Sameer Patankar at Krayons, Bandra).

Plus , tattoos can be super attractive (when they’re not a complete disaster). Case in point: Frances Bean, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s 18 year old daughter, who was recently photographed by the amazing Hedi Slimane.

Take a look. If these pictures can’t convince you to get one, nothing will.

Posted by Kanika

He considered getting highlights but figured "smugness was easier to maintain". He’s an ass. And he’s flawed, but oh so flawlessly. It was a late introduction to the cane-wielding, insult-spewing bike-riding Dr Gregory House, but I’m glad we met.

Racing through Season 1 - 3 of the medical drama House, I’m now hopelessly addicted, ensuring that House calls happen every Saturday. Just doesn’t feel like the weekend anymore without the kind of loony ranting that ends in saving lives.

Couple of weeks ago, a random online search to see what House’s lead actor Hugh Laurie was up to led me to find out, among other things, that he once played Wooster in the TV adaptation of PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster. Now my dad has tried, since I was in school, to get me to wait on Jeeves and the rest of Wodehouse’s wonky characters. Somehow, it just didn’t work out. Now prescribed by another medical expert (my dad’s a doctor too), I decided that this would be the time to give it another shot.

Since then I’ve browsed titles that have made me giggle – Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen – gave my heart to a stammering crossword specialist who was vying for another’s, and hung out at The Drone’s Club with people named Pongo Twistleton, who say things like “but half a jiffy” and “well, this is a bit of a goose”.  Anything that can stir up half a smile in a chronically complicated city, work as breathe-easy writing that makes you feel like you’re wearing a white linen shirt even on Mumbai’s most mugggy day, deserves a read.

And on days when you need a chaotic page, there’s always that other House.

Posted by Kanika

My friend has a theory: the moment an idea is said out loud, even if it's uttered as a soft whisper in the daintiest ear, it's out there, floating in idea space, there for the snatching. At bpb, ideas are treated all kinds of ways. Sometimes they're received with applause and Friday afternoon margaritas at Indigo Deli; scribbled on paper and locked into a word vault; or then just crushed and thrown into a trash can. But there's a place between the back end and the bin, a space where ideas we can't use - because they're too impractical or insane - go to die.

Banished to this unfortunate land last week was The Matchmakers, a company that does cool made-to-order match boxes with images and words of your choice. The only problem? The minimum order you need to place is 14,000 match boxes! Now we figured you don't have that many friends, not even in cyberspace. We also figured that you won't invite 14,000 people to your bachelor / bachelorette party or cocktail, where a customised match box would actually be fun.

But at the off chance that you're a (so many) people person, you can call The Matchmakers on 67106666/67. Perfect matches!

Guest blog: How a reality TV show and a vegan ship named The Brigitte Bardot got Mumbai resident Siddharth Chakravarty to save Blue Fin Tuna and give up sushi. Next, he takes on Japanese whaling fleets and gets filmed by Animal Planet. Want to guest blog for bpb? Write in with your story to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Posted by Siddharth Chakravarty

Welcome Aboard Brigitte Bardot

I could never get enough of spicy tuna rolls, and I’d seek them out everywhere I travelled. Working in the Merchant Navy meant gaining access to ports around the world that supported my sushi cravings. Then early this year, a reality TV show and a vegan ship changed my point of view and palette.

In April, I signed up with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), an international marine wildlife conservation non-profit, recently known for their reality TV show Whale Wars. I captained their fast interceptor vessel, the MV Brigitte Bardot, working on a campaign to save the blue fin tuna from illegal poachers. We worked the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, since we believed that the war would prevent the EU Fisheries Department from patrolling this area, making it a haven for illegal fishing fleets.

You Can Volunteer Too

The Sea Shepherd works completely on public-funding and the entire crew on board their three ships is made up of volunteers from all over the world and different walks of life. Not just restricted to those who’ve worked on a ship before, it means that you can volunteer too! ( See details at :http://www.seashepherd.org/get-involved)

A Sea Change

My joining The Sea Shepherd wasn’t incidental. I’d been brooding my years in the Merchant Navy and well into my 10th year at sea, was bored and desperate for a change. Understandably, the Sea Shepherd’s ships are completely vegan. I’d been contemplating turning vegetarian for a while, but the fact that this would happen so suddenly had me worried. I had thought of bidding adieu to meat and fish with a week of gastronomic splurging- steak, prawns, sushi, tandoori chicken - but cold turkey it would be! The food on board – in spite of all the dairy substitutes – was yum and not without a sense of humour; there were breads labeled ‘Badass Banana’.

The reason I started this post with sushi was because I now have a deep understanding of the tuna fish industry. During my save the Blue Fin Tuna campaign, I interacted with marine biologists and other conservationists to learn that tuna is an apex predator and like sharks, is at the top of the food chain. Rampant over fishing has led the Blue Fin Tuna to now be classified as an endangered species and yet, a 7.2 billion dollar industry ensures that strict restrictions are not imposed on fishing. Further, tuna corporations are set to gain huge profits from the species’ extinction. At current market rates, a mature fish sells at USD 75,000, so one can only imagine how prices will sky-rocket once the fish becomes rarer.

Next Stop: Save the Whale

When I re-read what I’ve written, it almost seems like I’m sermonising. However, I am only trying to convey that seeing hundreds of these fish trapped together in cages has made a deep, irreversible impression in my mind. I still go out with friends who eat sushi and don’t try to convert them. The facts are on the internet and almost everyone who wishes to know more about their food source is free to Google it.

I’m off to the Shetland Islands next week to join the crew after their recently concluded campaign to bring attention to the illegal pilot whale slaughter in the Faroe Islands. From there, we sail to Australia and prepare to head down South to meet the Japanese whaling fleet. All aboard?

You can follow us on Facebook for continuous updates:

For more information on volunteering, visit http://www.seashepherd.org or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Posted by Kanika

On Saturday at noon, 13 bpb subscribers, lured by pastry chef Savio Fernandes, gathered around a forbidden fruit (several actually), and learned how to make puff tatin, apple prune-coriander tart, rabri apple tart and classic apple pie from scratch. Presenting slices from bpb and JW Marriott's apple baking workshop.