For this month's podcast we borrow from Keith Richards' autobiography, @paperslut's Twitter feed and our new team member's play list. Thank you for the music!

Download the podcast or hear online here.

We All Go Back To Where We Belong - REM
1,000 Ships - Rachel Platten
Save Room - John Legend
Wood - Rostam Batmanglij (of Vampire Weekend)
She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones
Empire State of Mind - JayZ featuring Alicia Keys
Live and Learn - The Cardigans
Apples - Delhi 2 Dublin
Sometimes - The Bandana Splits
Lightning Crashes - Live

Have a favourite song? Send us your recommendations to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and if we love them, we’ll add them to next month’s track record!

Green, Not Jaded

If he could paint anything in the world, Pune-based graffiti artist Luvnit Sawhney would spray the words “Property of nature: return to closest water body” across city water tanks; and parachuting wine bottles, which he depicted in a recent mural, are his solution to the aftermath of war and natural disasters.

But don’t dismiss him as a tree-hugging, impractical idealist just about yet – this boy’s got talent, and he’s willing to share.

Banksy on This

A final year product design student by day, Sawhney moonlights as a graffiti artist by night, painting odd corners and quiet streets of Pune with neon pink balloons and wine bottles. His works are heavily influenced by the art and ethos of cities like Detroit and Singapore, where he has lived; he counts artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey as major inspirations as well.

Sawhney has also recently launched his own company called W!NK (stands for Wasting Ink), through which he is collaborating on the Dirty Wall Project in Mumbai and also holding graffiti art workshops at IIT Guwahati. Catch him there, or better yet, call him over, where ­he’ll customize a mural or art installation specifically tailored to your space and taste. Spray of hope!

Getting there: Call 09730984036, email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or view the Facebook group here, murals start at Rs. 10,000.

What: bpb Tuitions video lessons from hot celebrities, view here.

Why: How do you open a champagne bottle? Or change a flat? The secrets to these and life’s other 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; and Bollywood hunk Arunoday Singh demonstrating a perfect push-up.

When: Now, because you’re not too cool for school.

Little girls cavorting in grass skirts, big men playing with small revolvers, a couple posing in front of colourful clapboard houses: as part of her Back To The Future project, photographer Irina Werning works with old portrait photos and recreates moments with astonishing precision, using the same subject and replicating background, colours and even wardrobe to take an updated photo. The twin pictures she publishes side by side. Find her work here.

Pretty cool, right?

India Bound

Born in Argentina and trained in London, Irina has shot portraits all over the world, including Buenos Aires, London, Florida, France. And in November, she’s coming to India and is looking for subjects. Same pinch us now!

If you’re interested in participating, all you have to do is email her a couple of old photos. Some things to bear in mind: the pictures don’t have to be from when you were very young, but there should be a distinct difference between what you looked like then and now; it  shouldn’t include other people, unless they’re available for the photo shoot as well; she prefers shots featuring backgrounds (homes, schools, street corners) that you still have access to, and is “particularly interested in emblematic signs of your city or things that show Indian culture”, but close ups could work too.

Capital!

If selected, Irina will work on replicating wardrobes, props, as well as other details, shoot with you for an hour during her visit (November  18 to December  10) and gift you a print when she’s done. The only catch is that she’s going to be based in Delhi. Make the trip, we suggest: F1 madness will be over and the weather would have turned cold and lovely. Plus, think of all the awesome food.

You know you want to. Say cheese!

Getting there: Visit www.irinawerning.com or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , photo shoots from November 18 to December 10,  open for entries now.

Good, Letter, Best

Writer Kiran Nagarkar’s first library was his grandma. It wasn’t before he was 15, did author Ruskin Bond have access to a public library. In the 15 days she had chickenpox, theatre actor Ratna Pathak Shah read every Famous Five, Secret Seven and Five Find Outers novel that Enid Blyton had written, all borrowed from a bibliotheque. Tall stories these are not. In fact, they’re told by the personalities themselves, in hand written letters they mailed in to mCubed, Bandra’s brand new children’s library, telling kids how lucky they are to have the place.

To Cut a Long Story Short

How three women got 2,800 books, a DVD player and projector in here is another story altogether. We’ll keep it short. Mumbai prfessional Vibha Kamat had a nephew in the US named Neel, whose public library made him pledge to read 30 books over the summer.  He read over 150. He was six. Vibha returned to Mumbai inspired. She typed the story of Neel and sent it out in an email, and was blown away by the response from complete strangers. Their donations made it possible for her, along with co-founders Sonal Bimal and Vaishali Shinde to take over a BMC owned space next to D’monte Park that they’d had their eye on for a while. The happily ever after resulted in a wonderfully airy library with well-stocked candy-coloured shelves and fun floor cushions where kids can sit and read. Luckily, there's no story end in sight.

Art Broken

There used to be, way back in the late 90s, a men’s fashion store called Elements that tailored sharp suits for many a Bandra boy. Then one day without any word, proprietor and designer Lavesh Jagasia shut shop, leaving the men without shirts on their backs and panic-stricken the following New Year’s Eve. Now, almost a decade later, they can finally get closure.

Turns out Jagasia was also an art connoisseur, and after shutting Elements had started up The Serigraph Studio in 2003, an online hub that published and distributed limited edition serigraphs (fine art prints) of Indian artists. Last week, the Studio got its first physical presence, taking over the Perry Cross Road space once occupied by abovementioned Elements. What's that they say about fashion being cyclical.

Read the entire story on BGR India.

During the F8 conference on Thursday, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to introduce a host of new features that are rolling out to the social network. The major change is called “Timeline” and it takes advantage of existing pictures and status updates to create a more visual experience of “who you are.” As you scroll down your personal timeline, you’ll be able to view pictures and updates throughout the years. There is a new option in the upper right-hand side of your profile to quickly skip to a year in time too, and many of the features are also available on Facebook’s mobile applications. Read on for more, including a video of Facebook’s Spotify integration in action.

“This isn’t all of the stuff that I did in 2007,” Zuckerberg explained while showing off his own profile. “It’s just the most important stuff.” Timeline automatically hides information that Facebook doesn’t think is important, but if it is, you can easily switch it to show that content. In addition, users can click the Timeline and add photos to earlier points in time before Facebook existed, such as their childhoods. Apps can also populate the timeline.

Facebook also added a new “Reports” feature in Timeline. Reports can be compiled every month or every year, and they provide a summary of your Timeline including everything you’ve ever done with a Facebook application. Apps can be added directly from a friend’s Timeline, too. Timeline provides an ability to “highlight and curate all of your stories so you express who you really are,” Zuckerberg said. That means you can customize your homepage with a large photo, dubbed the “Cover,” in addition to your profile picture. Lastly, you can restrict access to certain parts of your Timeline if you choose.

Read the entire story on BGR India.

This month we reunite with Suede, The Corrs, Del Amitri and a Bichra Yaar, plus discover some super new tracks.

Download the podcast or hear online here. Enjoy!

Beautiful Ones - Suede
Bichra Yaar - Zoe Viccaji & Strings
The Understanding - Jones Street Station
Breathless - Corrs
Sleep All Summer - The National & St. Vincent (Crooked Fingers cover)
Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine
Roll To Me -  Del Amitri
Hong Kong Garden - Siouxsie & The Banshees
How Can I Say I Love You (Accoustic) - Girls

Special thanks to Sid Khanna and Sonjoy Basu for sharing their music. Have a favourite song? Send us your recommendations to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and if we love them, we'll add them to next month's track record!

What:  Filminute 2011 – the international online one minute film festival, visit http://www.filminute.com/2011/screeningroom to view and vote.

Why: Got a minute? Watch a film. Find 24 additional minutes and you can view all the final reels – from India, Columbia, Hungary, US - that made it to this year’s Filminute festival. These shorts feature fun takes on hair dye, home videos and human hares, too much coffee and way too much coffee.  No interval for popcorn! bpb’s voting for: Loop, Dot In the Line and Grassy Knoll Edge.

When: You need it to be gone in 60 seconds.

What: Everything vinyl at Nova Audio, 3 Fairlands, 314 LJ Road, near Sitladevi Road Junction, Mahim (W), start at Rs 600 for an LP.

Why: Because LPs might have made a comeback, but Chor Bazaar is so last decade. Here is a store where you can get current(ish) music (The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, latest Strokes album) in a clean, organised space and also shop for turntables, speakers and other accessories. Read more here.

When: A song, song time ago.