26 June,2026 07:59 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Ashish Raje
Visitors throw caution to the wind and crowd the rocky shores of Haji Ali for a selfie
The nature-themed mural at the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind with its tactile elements. PICS COURTESY/BETTER PLANET ALLIANCE
The Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Tardeo is witnessing a monsoon bloom. A wall at the sensory garden inside the campus recently got a tactile art upgrade by the city-based community, Better Planet Alliance. Home to tactile pathways, varied textures, and fragrant plants, the garden now hosts a mural capturing visuals of diverse marine life.
"We used raised elements and jute to add texture to the walls. While the school caters to those with visual impairment, it is also home to students with special needs. The team spent hours ensuring the mural had a pop of colour," community founder Ashwini Jadhav (above) told this diarist.
With the wall ready in time for the new academic year, Jadhav is now planning an eco-friendly stationery distribution drive across schools in the city.
A smile travels a long way, but Sheetal Agarwal might need more than that. The founder of Clownselors Foundation, a voluntary organisation with a focus on medical clowning, is set to travel to Italy to meet fellow healers trained in the way of Patch Adams. Adams was the inspiration for the eponymous 1998 film starring Robin Williams, and eventually Sanjay Dutt's Munnabhai MBBS. "While Adams does not travel much, it will be a rare opportunity to learn from," she shared. Those looking to learn more, and perhaps lend a hand, can head to @clownselors on Instagram.
Prajakta Kedare's artwork. PIC COURTESY/ARTIST
Mumbai's first rains often arrive wrapped in nostalgia. For illustrator Prajakta Kedare, however, it arrived with anxiety. The resident of Siddharth Colony in Chembur documented the travails of the first showers with an illustration of a steel vessel catching rainwater from a leaking roof.
Created after a sleepless night, the artwork draws from lived experience. "Rain may fall on the entire city, but the consequences are not shared equally," said Kedare. The portrait of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the image of the Buddha in the frame reflect both identity and resistance. "Every leaking roof, flooded room and broken ceiling remains a reminder that environmental injustice is also caste injustice," she shared.
