10 January,2026 06:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
A group of girls watch a man perform a somersault at Dadar beach
Kiran Vinkar in performance
Ongoing Braille Literacy Month activities in the city will receive a musical interlude this evening at the Panini Auditorium in Thane West. Visually impaired flautist Kiran Vinkar, who has earned praise from the likes of Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, and Salim Merchant, will take stage at a special socio-cultural event for artistes with visual impairments.
Kiran Vinkar with singer Shankar Mahadevan (right). Pics Courtesy/@kiranvinkarflute
Organised by city-based organisations Team Vision and the Atulya Inclusive Cell of the Joshi-Bedekar College, the event will also see an award function for volunteers who have excelled in empowering people with vision loss. "The event also marks the release of a new audiobook platform that will allow users with UDIDs (Unique Disability IDs) access to a large library of audiobooks, too," member Siddesh Nayak told this diarist. To know more, reach out to @team.vision.
Writers across the city might want to take notes. The National Centre for Performance Arts (NCPA) has teamed up with the Soho Theatre, London for a new writing season across Mumbai and Delhi in January. As part of the two institutions' four year-long partnership, the sessions will begin tomorrow with an interactive workshop conducted by Max Elton, associate director Soho Theatre, and Pooja Sivaraman, creative associate, Soho Theatre. On January 13, the venue will host the staged reading of the 2024 Verity Bargate award-winning play, Little Brother, by Eoin Mcandrews. Directed by Rachel D'Souza, the reading features performances by Amba Suhasini Jhala, Dheer Hira and Shantanu Ghatak, among others.
Artistes put on a show during a visit to one the hamlets in Palghar
IF you thought clowning around was easy, the Clowns Without Borders might change your mind. Today, six trios of clowns will take the stage in Andheri to showcase, Offence 2.0, the result of a two-month long clowning camp in Palghar. "The global collective was founded with the idea of bringing laughter to those who need it the most.
A moment from a performance. Pics Courtesy/Clowns without borders India
To that end, for the last couple of months, we had been working with 19 artistes from across India. We performed across the Zilla Parishad and Adivasi hamlets across Palghar, and will now bring a mirror performance to Andheri," shared Rupesh Tillu (below) founder, Clowns Without Borders, India. While it might seem fun, Tillu shared that things are not always easy.
"The job of a clown is to comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comforted. The first part was for the children of the Adivasi hamlets, now the job is to question the urban citizens," he told this diarist.
Things are about to get busy for the jury of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize. Now in its ninth edition, the New India Foundation (NIF) has opened nominations for the award that recognises non-fiction works centred on modern India. Avid readers will remember that it was author Aparajith Ramnath who bagged the prize in 2025 for Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya. "Since its inception, the award has recognised works of in-depth research and intellectual rigor. It honours publications that enhance understanding of India's past and present, fostering an informed discourse among a broad readership," said Nandini Nair (left), associate director, NIF. Those keen to submit their works published between January 1 2025 and December 31 2025, can log on to newindiafoundation.org before January 31.
Guests sample the tubers
The last time this diarist read of tubers was in high school science textbooks. For Avinash Harad, community member of Belpada, in Murbad, Thane, they are a key part of the food cycle. Today, Harad will join Van Niketan, INTACH Thane Chapter, Save Bombay Committee, Arenya and others to host the first Tuber Festival in Thane.
Channi and Shatavri. Pics Courtesy/Avinash Harad
"We have hosted such festivals across Maharashtra, but this is the first festival so close to Mumbai. Tubers are a key food group; they are resilient and nutritive. As more foods are affected by climate change, they can offer a solution. Unfortunately, there are no government initiatives or policy to help cultivation of tubers. The festival is an attempt to educate the villagers of its benefits, and varieties," he shared.
