Best of Weekender: Music for children’s emotional well-being to art and design education for K-12 students, and more
This week, YS Weekender brought to you stories of how music and art can help children during the pandemic, and all about the Borneo Jazz Festival that is going virtual this year.
When the entire world went into a lockdown of sorts in 2020, life as we knew it came to a standstill, and almost everything moved online. Siblings Ambi and Bindu Subramaniam instinctively knew that if ever there was a time for music to shower its healing powers, this was it.
Bindu and Ambi, who run Bengaluru-based Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SAPA), are zealous in their passion to hone the next generation of musical talent through their academy. On World Music Day, Ambi and Bindu Subramaniam revealed how SaPa is using music to prioritise children’s emotional wellbeing amid the pandemic.
In 2014, when Jaikrishnan Ganeshan moved to Sweden to pursue a master’s in mechanical engineering, he craved Indian food. Though there were a few Indian restaurants, he found that the food lacked authenticity in taste.
Jaikrishnan and his father RK Ganeshan, Co-founders, Rakaka Food technologies
When he returned to India after six years, he was keen on innovating a product that simplified the cooking process. Jaikrishnan and his father, RK Ganeshan, co-founded Rakaka Food Technologies (RFT) in 2018, whose first product is a simple plug-and-play device, which can cook any dish by placing the right ingredients in the right quantities on a tray.
Co-founders of Uno Lona Academy
Shalu Juneja, an art educator, self-taught potter, and Co-founder and Director of Uno Lona Academy (ULA), has taught art for over 11 years after doing her master’s in fine arts. Specialising in wood and glass design, Shalu teamed up with her son, Harsimran Juneja, to found ULA in 2016.
ULA specialises in art and design education for K-12 students and young adults. It offers foundation courses across drawing, painting, and claying mediums, as well as focuses on career-building for students who enrol in its courses.
To make a mark in the overly saturated Indian jewellery market without any formal training, traditional backing, or strong reliance on wedding designs is an impressive feat. Sisters Mamta and Vidhi Gupta have done it with élan with their handcrafted jewellery brand Zariin. The sisters are creating offbeat handcrafted gold-dipped pieces that play on the natural textures of semi-precious stones. Today, the label is available in 21 countries and retails in over 200 stores worldwide.
The show must go on. Borneo Jazz Festival (BJF), one of Asia’s renowned music festivals, has pivoted to a new format this year – a virtual showcase of past and present performances. Held every summer in the east Malaysian city of Miri in Sarawak, this year the annual festival is highlighting some of the outstanding performers right since its first edition in 2006.
The science of yoga is all about holistic and healthy living
We are now in challenging times. With so many people experiencing personal loss, financial stress, and feelings of isolation, what are the ways we can support our mental health? Well, yoga is definitely one. If you are someone who is restless, anxious, and struggling with mental health symptoms, then what you need is a practice style that is grounding, slow, serene, and where you retain poses, rather than keep moving vigorously from one to the other.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
