Look around
Fourth issue of dhoop!!!
On chilly winter mornings, rows of delicate purple flowers line the fields of Pampore, near Srinagar, where farmers weed out the flowers with orange pistils the world knows and loves as saffron. The spice, highly regarded for its labour-intensive harvesting process, unique depth, and rich history grows only in specific high-altitude areas of Kashmir and comes with a Geographical Indication tag. It also carries the badge of being a quintessential, local ‘Indian’ gem that is exported the world over, but dig a little deeper and you’ll see, saffron — with an origin story that traces back to the Mediterranean — is not even native to India.
If origin doesn’t make something truly hyperlocal, what does? Could it be the destination? Indigenisation? Re-territorialisation? Or, Naturalisation? Is local something you are born with, or is it something you simply become?
From avocado toasts becoming as commonplace as baingan and the deep embedding of tomatoes into Indian cuisine, where our kitchens are unimaginable without it to imported, speciality products weaselling their way into our grocery lists — ‘hyperlocal’ takes on a new meaning in the age of ready-to-eat meals, girl dinner, and air-fried everything. As diets homogenise, food is becoming more universal than unique. Then, what is the relationship between hyperlocal and the human?
For our forthcoming issue, we’re inviting perspectives, narratives, arguments, and musings that challenge and test the idea of hyperlocal through the prism of nature (and how it nurtures produce), climate change, culture, global trade and commerce, biodiversity, diets, diversity, folklores, and importantly from the nuanced, lived-in slant of people and their habits.
We’re seeking pitches for the fourth issue of dhoop and looking to commission a wide range — from longform feature stories and uniquely opinionated pieces to shorter dispatches that ask critical questions around the theme of hyperlocal, and attempt to answer, at least some of it.
A good story, like a good dish, is born out of a carefully considered and well-executed recipe. A pitch is very much like that. A good pitch should be more than a headline and less than a story. In a brief-but-compelling paragraph, it should give us a full picture of:
What you want to write about
How you will bring a unique perspective to the subject
What will be your approach? Is it a personal take, an opinion piece or a feature story stringing together different voices (and if so, then who will be your interviewees)?
And finally, why you’re the best person to write it.
What are we looking for
In seeking pitches for the fourth issue of Dhoop, we’re looking to commission a wide range — from longform feature pieces looking at the idea of hyperlocal through a neighbourhood story and uniquely opinionated pieces questioning the parameters that decide what’s hyperlocal and what isn’t to shorter dispatches on foods with tales around their place of origin to others that ask critical questions around the theme of hyperlocal, and attempt to answer at least some of it.
The guardrails
Always send your your pitches with the subject <ISSUE#4_PITCH> to pitch@dhoopmag.com
We are accepting pitches till 8th March. Once you send in your pitch we should get back to you within 15 days/2 weeks.
Once selected we typically provide 4 weeks to write the story, which is inclusive of research and scheduling and conducting interviews, if any.
As an independent magazine we pay contributors an honorarium.
Use our reading recommendations under the curated reading list to look at the spectrum of work we consumed before coming up with this theme.
If you have any questions, please comment here or write to us at hello@dhoopmag.com