Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Footfall and football

A boy plays on the steps of the foot-over bridge connecting Mahim to Shahu Nagar

Pained Haynes wants honour for departed mate Thelston Payne

Seldom do we find famous cricketers wanting their deceased colleagues to be honoured with grounds and gates, stadiums and stands.

West Indies batsman Thelston Payne makes his ground in time during a World Series Cup game against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground
on February 6, 1987. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

But West Indies's great opener Desmond Haynes, who formed a terrific pair with fellow Barbadian Gordon Greenidge, said on Facebook the other day that the St Catherine ground in Barbados should be renamed the Thelston Payne Oval.

Also Read: Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Haynes's call came out loud and clear a day after his mate Payne passed away at 66, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Payne played a solitary Test and figured in seven ODIs for the West Indies at a time when Jeff Dujon was their regular wicketkeeper-batsman.

Desmond Haynes

"I am sad that we have lost Thelston Payne. I will always cherish those days we spent together as a member of the Barbados and West Indies team. Paynie was totally committed to the St Catherine Club. He loved coaching and passing on knowledge. He is going to be missed by all," said Haynes.

He added, "I would like to see the St Catherine ground renamed the Thelston Payne Oval. He should never be forgotten and what he has contributed to the club and cricket in Barbados," Good on you, Desi.

Of Bombay as muse

Ritesh Uttamchandani

Photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani, who has been photographing Bombay and Mumbai for 20 years, has decided to pay tribute to his city. Uttamchandani has released prints of photographs he has taken through his career, and called the collection, With Love, From Bombay. "The core idea was born in 2020, when I was doing a follow up to my first book, The Red Cat and Other Stories, which is a different take on the city, and also all pictures are taken on a cellphone. In the pandemic, I lost steam. But I have been travelling, and got time to look at my work from a distance, so this idea took shape. Also, I think these prints, which are large format, will inculcate this culture of having photographs in your homes. I have heard that these have a large sense of familiarity, and I think we should make space for such images in our home," he told this diarist.

Tree-t for the eyes

The tree also features in the Rustom Baug logo

A piece of his-tree is making news on WhatsApp. A magnificent rain tree that stands solid and life-giving at Rustom Baug, the Parsi Colony in Byculla, is the very green and pleasant protagonist of several chats. Some Rustom Baug-ians, though, claim that all those white clouds overhead in the pictures, simply too many of them, smack of being touched up.

Or not, who can say. One thing is certain; Rustom Baug, which celebrates 100 years of existence this year, knows that the tree has deeper roots than many locals. It also features in the Baug logo, released to celebrate its century.

Just for kicks

If author Varun Gwalani's recent experience is anything to go by, life can be stranger than fiction. Over a month ago, Gwalani, who recently published The Only Way Out is Death, a locked-room murder mystery, held a crime writing workshop for members of a posh South Mumbai housing society. While all went well back then, the 29-year-old writer was shocked to receive a call from the Cuffe Parade police last week. Someone had filed a complaint against him for propagating violence. "It was all very confusing," says Gwalani, adding, "The police were very helpful; I clarified my stance in a letter, and later informed me that they had shut the case." It turns out, the complainant wasn't at the event. He just saw the poster and was triggered.

When brown girls run the world

Saloni Chopra in a still from Coconut

Author and actor, Saloni Chopra, who wrote the book Rescued by a Feminist: An Indian fairy tale of equality and other myths, is expanding her horizons. Chopra, who is also a social media creator, has directed her first feature, Coconut, under her production house Just Juliet Films. The film, which was entirely shot in Melbourne, which Chopra also calls home, features her as a brown girl in Australia, and is about "showcasing the unique experiences of women like me, who live at the intersection of two cultures: nominally part of both communities, but often not perceived by either." Chopra co-produced the movie with her partner Rahul Bhattacharya. She told this diarist, " My vision as an Indian-Australian filmmaker and artist is inspired by elements from both cultures I grew up around. I have tried to represent this duality in Coconut, from its soundtrack which blends Indian classical music with modern influences, to the exploration of traditional norms about identity, culture and duty in a contemporary Western setting." The filmmaker is right now submitting the film to various film festivals, and post that run, it will be available on an OTT platform.