Some afternoons ask very little of you. A good cup of chai, something hot from the grill, music with a little history in it, a film that still makes you smile and a novel you can disappear into. This edit is for the rainy Sunday that never quite gets started, and is better for it.
Eat.
Bombay sandwich
Hot, buttery and unapologetically generous, the Bombay sandwich is built for wet-weather appetites. Green chutney, potato and crisp vegetables are tucked between buttered bread and grilled until the edges turn golden. Nik Sharma’s version keeps the street-food spirit intact, with amchur, cumin and plenty of chutney. Especially good with a strong cup of masala chai.
Listen.
Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin
Released in 1999, Beyond Skin still feels unusually alive. Sawhney moves between Indian classical textures, jazz, electronica and breakbeat without making any of them feel decorative. It is thoughtful music about identity and belonging, but it never loses its sense of atmosphere. Start with “Nadia” or “Homelands”, then let the whole record run while the rain does its thing outside.
Watch.
Bend It Like Beckham
Yes, there is football, but the reason Gurinder Chadha’s film has endured is everything around it: West London, family expectation, friendship, ambition and the complicated business of becoming yourself without leaving everyone else behind. Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley give it an effortless warmth. It is the sort of film you remember being lighter than it is, then discover how much it actually has to say.
Read.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Fatima Farheen Mirza’s debut follows an Indian Muslim family in California gathering for a wedding, with years of affection, disappointment and distance sitting quietly in the room with them. The novel is patient with its characters and very good on the ways family can be both shelter and pressure. It is absorbing without being hurried, which makes it exactly the kind of book to lose an afternoon to.
Pour the chai, put your phone somewhere inconvenient and let the afternoon stretch. Some Sundays are better when nothing much needs to happen.
