
Editor’s letter
Drinking tea has been for so long been an excuse to gather, to convene and discuss. We wanted to do all those things while sharing the culture that we love, bringing the chai house to you via photos of cars in Southall to masala dabbas in Bangladesh and beyond.
Making this magazine was an opportunity to showcase some of the boundless creative talent from our communities, and spanning fashion, food and all kinds of fun.Editing Loka has been an exercise in love, and a joyful look at the different ways artists, musicians, writers and designers are growing roots and finding sanctuary. Shomil takes us on a tour around India, Eeshaan gives us a history of the matka, Tara shares her tabla memories with us and each playlist encourages us to dance in every space. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it — home is for everyone and drinking chai as we live just makes it feel a little bit more like ours.
Kieran Yates
Aashita Relan
Architect & Visual Artist
@delhicious
Amrit & Mriga
Founders
Norblack Norwhite
Eeshaan Kashyap
Founder, Tablescape
Gaurav Jai Gupta
Textile Artist & Designer
Akaaro
Har1karan
Photographer & Artist
Mohammed Abood / DJ Mocity
DJ & Founder
Boxout.fm
Naz Toorabally
Musician & Zine Maker
Weirdozine
Nishant Mittal
Music Archivist and DJ
Digging in India
Panjabi Hit Squad
DJ/producer Collective
Pooja & Dan
Architects
Shomil Shah
Tattoo Artist, India Ink Archive
Noor Dasmesh Singh
Architect
Priya Khanchandani
Curator & Writer
Tahmina Begum
Journalist & Editor
Tara Joshi
Writer & Editor
Harshit Gupta
Founder & CEO
Madhu Chocolate
Mira Manek
Author & Entrepreneur
Chai by Mira
Pritesh Mody
Founder & Cocktail Developer
Arushi Kathuria
Illustrator & Animator
Bhushitendu Bhatt
Filmmaker & Photographer
Border & Fall
Canadian Centre for Architecture
Cristian Barnett
Photographer
Noopur Choksi
Visual Designer & Illustrator
Shiv Ahuja
Photographer & Musician
V&A
Publishers’ letter
Loka, for us, is about creativity, expression and the art of making beautiful things.
What better way to bring these together than through a magazine that celebrates our cultures, our communities and how we live?
We are proud to be part of a movement of South Asian creatives pushing boundaries across all art forms and industries. Loka Volume 1 is a showcase of these peers, and we are honored to share some of their stories with you in these pages.
A special thank you to Kieran and Sijya, it’s been a joy to make this with you...
Anish & Nikhil