A post from Meera Ganapathi’s Instagram page

Have you considered taking a good pause recently? If not for the physical one, you can head to writer and children’s book author Meera Ganapathi’s Instagram page where we, at least, stopped for a mental one. We took in her easy, yet meaningful words, that romanticise the humdrum of daily life and  almost fell in love with the monotony of it all. One of our favourites is A Good Pause, which discusses the joy of stopping to listen to four year olds talk about the contents of their pockets.
@onemeerkat/Instagram

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The artiste couple

Who doesn’t love portraits? If you want a dash of pop-up art to it, check out the Instagram account, @thatcouplewhodraws. It is run by Goa-based couple Amrit Kapoor and Richa Gupta. While Kapoor makes the black-and-white portraits, Richa adds colourful, usually geometrical, patterns   to the background. This makes the portrait pop, as if it were three-dimensional. So far, the duo has sketched solo portraits as well as those  of couples of all ages. We really liked their playful drawings of a sibling duo, and think these will work well as birthday presents. In a long distance relationship, and want to show your love in a non-creepy way? Worry not, they ship worldwide. Starting at Rs 15,000, the price varies as per the number of subjects and the medium of  background.
@thatcouplewhodraws/Instagram

Hemp with SPF

Cote D’Azur

The  Indo-French label River has come up with hemp-infused sunscreens under their sub-label, River Remedy. Slo-Summer comes in four variants: Torini (smells like butter cookies), Lake Como (lavender), San Sebastian (cucumber) and Cote D’Azur (pineapple). We slapped on the SPF 50 Cote D’Azur which is oil-based. The pineapple aroma is quite overpowering, but that could work well for those leaning towards fruity fragrances. Unlike cream-based sunscreens, this did make our skin look visibly oily, but was easy  to apply with the spray bottle. The 100ml bottles have quirky, attractive packaging and are priced at Rs 885 each, which we thought was slightly on the higher side.
rivercandles.com

Gobhai makes it whole

The genius of Mehlli Gobhai is in the simple details that come together to create something grand. The late painter-illustrator, who passed away in 2018, left behind a vast oeuvre—children’s books filled with wonderment and joy. Two new posthumously released titles, The Body Book and The Tree Book (Talking Club, Speaking Tiger, Rs 499), are a priceless gift for your little one (it’s for kids aged two years and above).  In the latter, he tells us the story of a tree, first by introducing us to the many elements that make it whole—a varied palette of leaves, a densely alive branch, a thick trunk, pretty flowers, tall grass, delicious fruits, a happy bird and its nest, tiny butterflies, a naughty squirrel and a slithering snail. What happens when you bring these tiny little parts together to create a complete picture? There is an unspoken delight in watching the magnificent image unfold. In The Body Book, he introduces us to the different parts of the body. The toes, the fingers, elbow, the neck, the lips, the eyes and hair (lots of it)—you catch a boy swimming in the end, using every part of him. Yes, the body can do so many things and the tree can make room for so many different lives—imagine Gobhai telling this to a child, one picture at a time.
Available at all bookstores