30 August,2026 07:44 AM IST | Mumbai | Team SMD
Pic/Atul Kamble
In Lalbaug, Mumbai's sculpting hub, artisans work around the clock to add finishing touches to sculptures of Krishna and Ganpati ahead of Janmashtami on September 4, and Ganeshotsav, which begins on September 14.
Even the most ardent lover of this city will admit it can be pretty ugly at times. Pothole-y roads, buildings crumbling and, most of all, the ugly political hoardings that swarm our neighbourhoods every time a neta's birthday comes up or a road is built. It's this ugliness that photographer and self-publisher Ritesh Uttamchandani harnesses in his new book, Afterlife, distilling over 20 years of his career. "The book looks at the city, it talks about memory, residue, and repurposing. The core idea is to see how political posters and hoardings are repurposed and turned into a tea stall's roof, window blinds for factory workers' toilet, a cover for sugarcane at a stall," he says. The cover is true to the theme; the book is wrapped in literal political hoardings Uttamchandani has torn from the streets, making each copy unique. "It's a coffee table book that you can actually put your coffee cup on; the vinyl these hoardings are made of can take anything," he says.
"This is not something that is beautiful to look at," he asserts, "it is a distressing sight. Even the layout and the edit in the book emulate that. Wherever one image ends, a second begins. Posters are also put on the streets, signals, signage without any logic or design. There is no sensitivity - visibility and megalomania are most important to them. So there's a sense of humour attached to it, âKi dekho tumhare ego ka kya ho gaya hai'."
How's a man to put down roots in a foreign city? The answer was easy for Shah Rukh Khan. In 1997, while shooting Yes Boss, he first saw Mannat, the sea-facing property at Bandstand and joked that he would own it one day.
On one of our first few days in the city, this diarist too visited Mannat to find out what King Khan saw in it. But alas! We didn't quite see the magic. Well, that's old news now thanks to a new khabri in town. A new page on Instagram with the username @poojainteriorofficail, which seemingly belongs to a construction worker working on the renovation of King Khan's home, has been sharing regular updates with viewers. From what kinds of tiles Gauri Khan is ordering to which room he's working on. He even jokes about how he could build his entire home just with the Khans' tile budget. In another Reel, he talks about how he and the other workers are waiting for the day they get to meet Khan himself.
Maybe it'll happen. It's the city of dreams after all.
Former Pakistan cricket captain and ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan has been in prison for nearly three years now. Recently, the list of international captains to appeal to the Pakistan government to ensure Imran is well looked after grew from 14 to 22. Meanwhile, Ramiz Raja, who played under Imran at the victorious 1992 World Cup, indicated that his captain was "holding up" despite an eye problem.
What must be going through Imran's mind no one can tell, but chances are that he is calm, a state of mind which he learnt to embrace thanks to painter friend, Emma Sergeant in the early 1980s when Imran was "depressed" and "bitter" about the way he was being treated by the people of Pakistan.
In All Round View, Imran's 1989 book, he wrote: "A friend quoted an old Chinese proverb: âA bitter man is a man who is lost in life.' I started thinking more calmly and rationally. I mellowed as a person and became more tolerant. In the past I could not easily have forgiven anyone, a very typical Pathan characteristic. Now I [have] learned how to look through other people's eyes and understand them better." Wonder whether the great man is revisiting these thoughts.
We know there is no such thing as bad publicity. But, sometimes, brands need to draw a line. This diarist saw a copy of ex-Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal's 2012 book, The Story of My Assassins, displayed prominently on the front-of-store display table at Crossword, Inorbit Mall. Tejpal, who was convicted for raping a colleague in 2013 and sentenced to 10 years, had his plea challenging the conviction rejected by the Supreme Court last week. He has been asked to surrender in two weeks. For Tejpal, it makes sense to capitalise on the controversy seeing he doesn't have much going for him right now. But, why is Crossword cashing in? Don't issue an apology, just hide the book, guys!
Balram Vishwakarma's ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder)support group celebrated a year last Sunday. The group was born from a need for people trying to come to term with their neurodivergence, and find community. Speaking about what this milestone means to him and the group, he said, "Last July, I got a fantastic job with an American organisation. The money was insane, and I knew I could not screw it up. I had been fired from jobs in the past, and a lot of my struggles at work came from things I now understand through my neurodivergence: task initiation paralysis, executive dysfunction," he says. "At the time, I was visiting a therapist but lowkey knew that it was not enough. So I decided to find other people with ADHD and ask them how they managed work. A little over a year later, we have done more than 50 sessions. For someone who has struggled with consistency for much of his life, this is probably one of the things I have been most consistent with, and I am incredibly proud of that," he adds.
What a pookie he is!
