Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Pic/Nimesh Dave

A splash of colour

As temperatures rise on Thursday, a golawalla rinses his syrup bottles with water at Juhu Chowpatty.

Hailing the good work

This week, founder Zainab Patel is riding a positive wave as the community spaces of Trans Café and Transformation Salon were recognised at two different events. While the Prabhadevi salon, run by members of the trans community, earned the Magizhchi women's empowerment award, the café was honoured with the HDFC Ergo-Entrepreneur Ally prize. "It proves that when a community comes together, great things happen. Both these spaces seek to provide non-discriminatory and good quality services to not just the community, but also the mainstream public," Patel told this diarist.

A multi-sensory treat

The artworks at the café

It can be a charming experience to sip on a macchiato and browse pichwai artworks. Bandra's The Bagel Shop recently transformed into a gallery for artist Smita Sahu's Indian mythology-inspired works. "We plan to showcase works by one lesser-known artist every month. The patrons also enjoy the timely change," Lester Pereira, its founder, shared with this diarist.

Learning to doodle dandy

Participants listen in to the session

For artist and sculptor Arzan Khambatta, the art of doodling is not just an artistic exercise, but one of meditation. On Thursday, the sculptor held his first sketch session at the Worli space of Gallery Art And Soul. "This was my first live session in a gallery space," shared Khambatta. Having started sketching about 15 years ago, the artist had been hosting sessions online and offline regularly, but never in an art space. "Doodling is an unstructured experience. So, I was initially not sure how to structure it into a session. But it was quite a fun exercise in the end. One of the participants, a doctor, shared how it felt like a meditative experience," he shared. Through the session, participants also discovered new facets to the experience. "Meditation is not just about shutting the mind off. You need to be more conscious," the artist said. With the first event proving to be creatively fulfilling, Khambatta shared that he will be exploring this as a regular series. "I plan to scale it up from doodles to arts and crafted paper works, and maybe, eventually, to sculptures even," he said.

Arzan Khambatta

Mumbai hip-hop in Hyderabad

The group performs in Hyderabad. Pic Courtesy/@grey.chrctr

This week, the Mumbai swag of the hip-hop troupe Swadesi Project wound up in the city of Hyderabad for a unique gig. It was also the first gig in the Deccan city for Aklesh AKA MC Mawali. "I had not been part of the gig in the city before, so it was quite a fun experience for me," the rapper shared. While the trio of Aklesh, BamBoy and RaaKshaS performed their tracks, the event was also a reminder of another talent, MC Tod Fod who passed away in 2022. The group began the event with a tribute to their late friend. "We always try to pay tribute to him at gigs. It has become a part of our repertoire now. We started with his songs, and even played Khabardaar. The crowd received it quite well," Aklesh shared. Describing the hip hop scene in Hyderabad, the rapper added, "I was pleasantly surprised when I came across so many people who could speak in Hindi and Marathi during the event," he shared.

Aklesh AKA MC Mawali

A touch of healing love

The 2023 short film by writer Rahul Razdan and Bakarmax studio, The Old Age Home, will finally make it to YouTube after winning the audience awards at the Boundless Film Festival in Cannes. "We knew Rahul through common circles, and when he reached out to make a short film out of his comic, it was a natural step. It is a sweet little tale about dogs growing old in an old age home. It was nice to work on such a lovely story," said founder Sumit Kumar.