Mandovi Menon

Hello! Excited to finally be sharing with you - 'The Minor Project.' 🐘 🌻 Over the last month, we've been pouring our hearts into creating this platform @projectminor - a public dialogue initiative to help #EndViolenceAgainstChildren for @unicefindia and @leherindia . Swipe for the full story of our mascots, Minor and Murli. (= And please do follow our pages to explore and join the conversations we'll be having over the next three months if you’re interested. They include focus on topics like Child Sexual Abuse, Corporal Punishment, Bullying and Relationship Violence amongst others. But it will also be home to hope, stories, ideas and resources to help us begin to imagine what a world that nurtures and protects childhood looks like. — Not here to make anybody feel any more terrible about the state of the world. The intention is to move from Pity to Participation, Solitude to Solidarity, Commiseration to Community. Minor and Murli hope you’ll join them for the ride ~ 🐘 🌻 — Thank you to the most amazing team who make everything possible: @theoutboxproject & @mtryash - no words ❤️ @aliyakhan96 - literally cannot function without you @harshita_borah - for the most wonderful art direction @roshita.t - for graphic design and fish fry @_glittersandashes_ , @dangsimran08 , @anasuya_borah and @inayatsood - best girls in the world 🌻🐝 @marie_muravski for bringing Aliya and my story of Minor + Murli to life so beautifully in this illustrated comic @airphish - darling Smriti for our logo illustration! And equally darling @curate.love for helping us make it viable for the digital world

🌺🇯🇵 …Been a minute since I shared anything work-related on here for all the usual reasons. But totally honoured and humbled to be a part of the Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative in Tokyo this year! Though I found out over a year ago, it's taken me a loooong time to muster up the confidence (aka fight through impostor syndrome) to celebrate. Also didn't want to jinx my visa to Japan 😅 ANYWAY, never too late to tap into the excitement incredible opportunities bring! Finally visiting a country I've dreamed of getting lost in for years. In the company of brilliant, inspiring people I can't wait to learn from. People I never imagined I'd have the chance to share space with. Especially fulfilling that @asiasociety recognised our work with @apalamchapalam and @projectminor - two projects that continue to be closest to my heart in a very long (and chequered!) history of work in media. Goes without saying that I consider it a blessing to work on things I love and believe in, with people I love and believe in; regardless of recognitions like these. But man, it really does go a long way in reorienting focus towards the 101 ideas I still hope to breathe life into. ❤️ See you on the other side, friends! 🍱 May you always realise your zipper is down before anybody else does/ find your keys exactly when you need them! Ps - Link in bio for anyone who’s interested in reading more about Asia 21 💌 Pps - My bio needs real updating. Don’t do anything ‘independently’ anymore! 😂 All things work+lyf is routed through @egodth.co + @ordinarylicious 👫🏾

Meet Madanmohan Muniyarayar, Apalam Chapalam's traveling Story-Monkey and Mascot. He once said he was from Madurai but you never know with Madan. He could just as easily be from Mars, or the Moon, or Muzaffarnagar, or Morena. You see, Madan is not like the other monkeys. His body is made up of language and he feeds on forgotten stories for fuel. When his belly is very full with them, he can travel all around India (and even the world!) in a matter of minutes, sharing his stories and songs with all the other little monkeys who might be stuck at home. 🐒 Don't worry, sometimes he likes to do ordinary-monkey things too. During hot summer days like these, he’s happy to pluck mangoes and chase bugs like everybody else. Swipe right to watch him do it. Lovely Logo by the wonderful @nvmbr_in (@shiva_n_and @juhivishnani ). Amazing Animation by the whimsy queen @tumbletucker (Nisha Vasudevan). Super cute Sound design by my sweet, sweet @sandunesmusic & @citizenkna (Sanaya Ardeshir + Krishna Jhaveri) Instagram visual layout by @roshita.t (beautifully done in record time that too!). Extra Elaborate back-story for Madan by me. (=. - - Eep! It’s live (=. To know more about this project, follow us on Instagram - @apalamchapalam . It is essentially a storytelling initiative that @aliyakhan96 and I created over the past 10 days for Child Rights & Protection NGO @leherindia . Between our youtube channel and Instagram platform, it’s a community effort to bring some leisure and light-heartedness into the lives of urban underprivileged children between the ages of 6 and 14 years, because it's all too easy to give up on ideas of imagination/ play at times like these. God knows we could all use a little more of it though, so don't forget to enjoy yourself too. [P.s. - All of this was put together over a matter of days, thanks to a whole bunch of my favourite collaborators and friends who contributed their creativity and time towards our little lockdown project. Please excuse any flaws/ typos etc. This was never about perfection, and always about the heart. 🖤]

And some rooms, they know not to enter 🤍 ~ . . Sometimes this desk feels like my only true roots in this world; a single slice of space I call my own. Though I don’t know much about its previous owner, I love knowing two women have now sat right here, writing themselves whole over the last six years. 🤍 I suppose no woman can ever be a complete stranger to another. To more lives shared via the material and immaterial ~

The sunlight was like an exam 🌱~ . Solidarity in sisterhood that’s learning softness + strength, safety + surrender, chaos + contentment can all coexist. Otherwise known as that @shredevdube lens 🤍📷

Mumbai-based creative director, writer, and media entrepreneur Mandovi Menon is known for bringing an authentic and unapologetic voice to everything she does. What stands out is her distinct style that can shuttle between creating brand storytelling that is backed by historical and cultural context and embracing a more creative flow in her fictional works or poetry writing. Her continuous exploration of conversations around youth culture, sex and sexuality, women and children’s rights, and juvenile justice has also earned her honors such as a place on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list and Asia Society’s 21 Young Leaders Fellowship and more. Head to the link in our bio to learn more about Menon and her work.

🌊 Of salt and sea 📷 By magician @tianakamte 🏝️ For the good people over at @dweeplife ( @sheefajgilani @amanmaroo @manushi_chhillar ) ~ 💄 @makeupbyriddhima , 💆🏾‍♀️ @kunjsharma_hair , 🖼️ 🪄 @riidawg

FRIENDS! *personal dream-come-true moment incoming* 🤍🍉 My first ever short story ‘Watermelon For One’ was selected for publishing by the wonderful editors over at @thebombaylitmag Issue #57 is officially out now, so you can read at the link in my bio if you’re interested. (= I think this makes me…an author? 😱😭🫠 Sorry for the dramatics 😂 but it feels like it took a MINUTE to put this side of myself out there so… - Love to all the tagged humans—friends and fam—who’ve been forced to read my most private writing for years while dealing with many annoying neuroses. =p - Extra love to my oldest, most talented friend @squidworks who hand-painted this beautiful artwork to accompany the story. Makes it so much more special to have him be a part of this because it features many recurring themes in our friendship—the tropics, FOOD, heartbreak and healing through humour and community. - And the biggest love to two people I’d rather keep private, who feature in their own quiet ways. I felt their loss suddenly and most deeply while writing this. Thank you for the adventures and protection while you were around 🤍🍉 Grief takes strange shapes. As this story revealed to me, it can show up even in fruit; even without the finality of an obvious ending. So the last slice of watermelon-love goes out to everyone making their own way through loss. 🍉🤍 . . P.s. - If you do end up reading, would love to know how you felt so please hmu x

In my New Orleans blues musician era—album coming soon 🎺 ;) 📷 - @anirudhere magic. Special place for photographers who excavate new layers of self + remind you of 2013 favourite tunes you’d fully forgotten 🤍 HMU - @shifstershettty + @zoiyanotzoya

29th February, 2020 💌 Exactly one leap year ago, I had the honour of writing and reading some words I committed to the page about the kindest love I’ve ever known. Happy FIRST OFFICIAL Anniversary Steve & Shar 😂🌹 thanks for being the very best blueprint for loving, living & looking after strays. I speak for myself and all the neighbourhood cats =p To many more leaps (of years and faith) x ~

To friends who film the little moments they want you to remember 🎞️ ~ Thanks for always having my back (and side profiles) hashu dearest @hashimbadani *Now try not to squirm at this public display of affection 😂

AUTOPSY🍴 Been meaning to share this wildly experimental, deeply personal piece of writing for a while. Published a few months ago in @thedirtymagazine issue #3 , Death & Dying. It’s part poetry, part prose, part fiction, part autobiography, all cookbook. My family’s review was probably the most accurate i.e. ‘nice craft, too morbid to like.’ 😂 In my defense I wrote it during the most brutal part of the pandemic, and it helped me rearrange complicated feelings of personal and collective helplessness into patterns of meaning where there was seemingly none to be found. These are just snippets. Whole piece is too long to share here. But hopefully it’ll encourage interested readers to buy our last issue and KEEP PRINT ALIVE! The whole book is very beautiful, promise you won’t regret it 😁 (Will link y’all to it in stories) Special thanks to: @harshita_borah who visualised this whole story and remains my favourite art director to collaborate with for all things whack & whimsical 🌺 + Alisha Sett for her razor sharp comments + My Dirty Magazine fam x