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Field Notes

Short, dated observations from real events — the raw material of everything else we publish.

Two singers in green and purple silk saris sit on a red stage with a mridangam player, a violinist and two musicians holding tanpuras, in front of a gold curtain, with guests seated in the foreground.
Half of It Shows

M. S. Subbulakshmi believed only about half of practice shows on stage, her great-granddaughter says. A wedding has an unseen half too.

Oct 28, 2026
A bride in profile, in black and white, wearing a thick garland of malli buds around her neck.
Picked Before It Opens

Jasmine is picked as a bud and has to reach the market before it opens.

Oct 26, 2026
Two printed Saptapadi cards with a brass bell on each and two banana-leaf cones, one holding a white rose.
The Ceremony Left a Note

A wedding briefs the band, the florist and the photographer. Nobody briefs the guests.

Oct 12, 2026
A single folding chair standing alone near the service entrance of an almost-ready wedding hall in low warm light.
The Chair That Moved Itself

One folding chair, moved again and again before a single guest sat in it.

Sep 17, 2026
Rain running off the edge of a tent at night, with blurred string lights and guests dry inside.
Forty Minutes of Rain, and No One Noticed

The tent held. Here's what almost didn't.

Aug 20, 2026
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A short dispatch from the work, roughly weekly.