In our bodies, we carry many dualities. We can be sweet like jalebi yet tangy like tamarind, tough like the shell of a coconut, yet tender inside. Within us live many flavours: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and spicy. Like a good khatta–meetha achar, our richness comes from the mix of sun, spice, time, and the slow mingling of many flavours.

To be human is to carry many flavours in the same body. Yet we are often told to be less when we are more, not too sweet, not too loud, not this, not that. We are given labels and asked to fit into tidy jars.

Through storytelling, play, and stitching, this workshop invites participants to explore the khatta–meethapan of their identities and experiences. Our lives become richer when we move beyond labels and refuse to let them define us, choosing instead to become as layered and delicious as chaat papdi or achar. Rather than suppressing our contradictions, this workshop celebrates them.

The workshop will be facilitated by Hariom Srivastav, co-founder of Meethi Baradari and Rafooghar.

Artist Bio

Hariom Srivastav is a community educator, facilitator, and youth leader from Madanpur Khadar, Delhi. For the past eight years, he has worked with Yellow Streets, designing non-formal learning experiences for children and youth from underserved communities. He collaborates with Rafooghar–The House that Mends and Compassion Contagion, using stitching, textiles, and storytelling as tools for care and expression. He co-founded Meethi Baradari, reimagining masculinity through arts and dialogue, and founded Gungunaate Dhaage, supporting young women through embroidery-based livelihoods. His work has been supported by FICA, Serendipity, and Rafunaama and presented at Alt Shift Festival, Germany, and Serendipity Festival, Goa, in 2025.