Food for the soul

City-based musician Aarifah talks of music that focuses on being honest and how the therapeutic act of cooking inspires this foodie's tunes

Those who made it to singer-songwriter Aarifah's gig at Bandra's Haiku JAM last weekend were in for a treat. The Mumbai girl performed a new set mostly comprising unreleased songs she will be playing at the upcoming NH7 Weekender in Pune, some of which are also in the process of being recorded, and will be structured into an album soon.

Her new tracks, which stem from experiences that she and others around her are going through, focus on being honest, she tells us, as she talks about the song titled Resilient. "It talks about being resilient though a loss or difficulty or a bad period in your life. I wrote it when I was going through a similar phase," Aarifah says about a crucial subject, since mental health awareness and remembering not to give up on yourself are things we often tend to forget, engrossed in our hectic schedules.

And though she's been a part of earlier events at Haiku JAM and loves the concept, she is yet to convert the idea of turning a haiku into a full-fledged song, though she did try it out as a social media experiment. The foodie, who loves the fare at Duke Restaurant in Bandra, Hotel Deluxe in Fort and Aradhana Coastal Delight in Khar, also admits that the idea to do the haiku struck her due to her current love for another Japanese obsession, ramen, a bowl of which she whipped up recently.

"I like cooking because when you're doing something where your hands are busy, you start thinking about things and you don't even realise it's happening. In a way, it helps me mull over things even when I might feel frazzled. It helps me get inspired in a therapeutic way. Just like music is therapy for me, because of the lengthy process that goes in making it and the self-introspection it leads to," she shares, adding that it also works for her relationships as it helps her form bonds and spend time together. Plus, who doesn't love a yummy reward for all the hard work?

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