28 July,2026 08:51 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
A man plans his next move on the board against his young opponent at Shivaji Park
If you are among the many who were confused to find a cartoon pirate flag at the recent student protests, you need to brush up on your anime before October arrives. The Anime Multiverse Cosplay Edition will bring Luffy and his cohorts, along with a whole universe of anime characters to Mumbai in October.
Cosplayers show off their creations at the 2025 edition. Pic Courtesy/@anime_multiverse.in
From the ever popular Fullmetal Alchemist to Demon Slayer, and the rising phenomenon of Jujutsu Kaisen, cosplayers are expected to bring these characters to life. The second edition of the festival ups the ante with an eight-city tour that will kick off in Pune on October 3 before stopping at Mumbai (October 10), Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.
From explosive anime performances to cosplay showcases, workshops, the festival will focus on immersive visual experiences. Fans might do well to keep an eye open, as the tickets are flying off the shelves.
One thing that recent events have proven is that change is driven by women. It was this need for change that pushed Aakriti Sharma and Mohini Mehta to start Her Circle, a community of women looking to come together, bond, and shape their neighbourhoods in Navi Mumbai.
(From left) Moments from meet-ups at Her Circle; (inset) Mohini Mehta (left), Aakriti Sharma. Pics Courtesy/Her Circle
"The collective was born from the simple observation that many women lead lives in silos. They want to do so much for the city, but often cannot find that common bridge," said Mehta, community lead, Her Circle. Having worked with the World Health Innovation Forum (WHIF) in the past, Mehta found a collaborator in Aakriti Sharma, who set up the Sakhi Collective on July 1 with a similar objective.
"In a sense, Her Circle is a sister concern with a telling difference - it is free," revealed Sharma. Both collectives are driven by sisterhood. "We came across many women with a skill for the art, and hope to team up with the municipal corporation to beautify the neighbourhood," Mehta told this diarist.
While Vikrant Massey is back in his good-guy-next-door avatar with Musafir Café, we were left wondering: Was the book better? Seems like we might soon find out. The English translation of author Divya Prakash Dubey's (above) Hindi book (Yugm Westland) which inspired the series is slated for a September release. What adds to the anticipation is director Ruchir Arun's admission to mid-day in the July 27 edition, where he revealed that the series is far from a page-by-page recreation of Dubey's story. "I often heard from readers who said they had never studied Hindi, or were not comfortable reading in the language. This is an opportunity to reach an even wider audience," Dubey shared.
Amruta Nemivant and Ranjit Hoskote
Nature, poetry, and philosophy, will all find place in Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan's Practices of Hope: A Reader for the Future (Goethe Institut, Niyogi Books) that will be launched today. "It is the coming together of a multidisciplinary project on the ecological crisis," revealed Amruta Nemivant, senior manager, programme department.
Edited by Nemivant alongside curator Ranjit Hoskote and Ravi Agarwal, the book will feature design by Zeenat Kulavoor, essays by Pranay Lal, Rahul Mehrotra, Nancy Adajania, and poems by Ruth Padel, among others.
