Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

29 May,2026 08:54 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  Team mid-day

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce.

Pic/Atul Kamble


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Every little prayer is heard

Two young boys join hundreds of faithful to offer Eid-Al-Adha prayers near Bandra railway station on Thursday.

Runs in the family

Sunil Shanbag; (right) Shernaz Patel. File pic

It will be a conversation among friends at Andheri this Sunday. Theatremaker Shernaz Patel will join Sunil Shanbag for a conversation at Studio Tamaasha. "It is part of our ongoing Talking Theatre series. Shernaz [Patel] has an interesting history, having grown up with parents in Gujarati and Parsi theatre, and her own journey through English and Gujarati theatre. It will be a nice, long conversation among friends and colleagues," shared the studio's co-founder Shanbag.

Benching problems at Pali

A view of the bench in the lane outside the gallery. File pics/Satej Shinde

On May 3, mid-day covered the flashpoint between the community and influencers at Ranwar (Whose Bandra is it, by the way?). In neighbouring Pali Village, gallerist Ayesha Parikh is raising a similar issue around the popular bench outside her gallery, Art and Charlie. "The apathy towards a community space that the bench is, or discourteous behaviour to patrons frustrates me," she revealed. Some production units even end up damaging the bench. "Commercial shoots must respect the space, the copyrights, and the community," added Parikh, who shared a list of grievances on the gallery's social media. It looks like Bandra is losing patience with the cameras.

Ayesha Parikh

Say it on the cover

Covers by Bena Sareen and Pinaki De; Bena Sareen, Shashi Tharoor, and Alka Pande at the award ceremony. Pics Courtesy/@oxfordbookstores

It was none other than the Internet's favourite sesquipedalian Shashi Tharoor, who broke the thumb rule of not judging a book's cover, at the 11th Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize. The event in New Delhi saw Bena Sareen bag the prize for the cover of My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar. The jury that included academician Alka Pande and Tharoor also announced two special appreciations: Pinaki De for Carnival: A Novel by Sayam Bandyopadhyay, and Shadab Khan for The Remains of the Body by Saikat Majumdar. These striking artworks had us going, "Oh my word!"

Pinaki De

Turbulence over Kamshet

A paraglider learns the ropes in Kamshet. Pic Courtesy/Fly Nirvana

I believe I can fly. Actually, not anymore, if you ask the paragliders in Kamshet. The community is quietly protesting against a proposed high-tension power line at the base of the popular Tower Hill. "Every year, hundreds of new pilots are trained here. The terrain is perfect for training hobby pilots from across the country. If Tower Hill is obstructed, the fundamental training pipeline stops," said paraglider Sanjay Rao.

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