02 June,2026 08:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Ashish Raje
Mumbaikars might not have to wait too long for monsoon showers, as grey clouds form over Marine Drive
Rajeev Raja performs with Hitesh Dhutia
Expect the unexpected at a jazz concert. Like finding Bollywood veterans Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi in the audience. "I was surprised to see them listening intently. They were all praise for the jazz-fusion tunes," flautist Rajeev Raja reminisced, about his May 31 concert.
Dhutia, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Raja, and creative director of the space, Pushan Kripalani at the Khandala venue. PICS COURTESY/RAJEEV RAJA
There was more to soak in visually at the venue, Abbey 301 in Khandala, which is a 200-year-old abbey sensitively repurposed into an concert space. Excellent choice for a date night, Javed saab.
Women paint at the Kamathipura Kala Mela in 2025. FILE PICS/ATUL KAMBLE
Ahead Foundation's Haanh Hum Collective is finally receiving its flowers after four years of working with and empowering the sex-workers of Kamathipura. While the collective is grateful for their nomination for the Global Arts Prize for Innovation, Neethu V, the director of AHEAD Foundation, expressed a larger hope to this diarist, "We're very glad this recognition is coming our way but I hope this translates into something for the community itself and that more people from the sex-worker community join us, and that there is more funding for the artwork we are doing with them." After such a milestone, we can only hope that congratulations are in order.
Pics Courtesy/Dadi Pudumjee, The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust
Serendipity Arts will soon head west to London for a special collaboration, we learnt.
Giants on the Move, a grand puppet procession directed by Dadi Pudumjee of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust, and Eyes Shall Deceive, an immersive film and live music commission by Sneha Khanwalkar and Sudarshan Shetty are set to be presented in collaboration with the Science Museum and the Great Exhibition Road Festival this weekend. Cheerio, and don't forget to check your weather app.
A panel from Women and Toilets. PIC COURTESY/lEEWARDISTS
Creative collective Leewardists's (@leewardists) new data-based comic series, Women and Toilets dissects the inconvenience women face accessing public toilets in the city. Urban designer Anuj Kale from the collective that conceptualised the handbook for urban designers reminded us, "Toilets in public spaces are present, but are rarely hygienic enough for women to use."
