Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce.

Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

A policewoman seeks the blessings of Ganesha at Carter Road promenade in Bandra

Bappa call before duty calls

A policewoman seeks the blessings of Ganesha at Carter Road promenade in Bandra. Pic/ Pradeep Dhivar

Time to reboot

Srila Chatterjee

As India strives to get #vocalforlocal in the pandemic, founder of city-based Baro Market, Srila Chatterjee informs us that the popular home decor that celebrates the handiwork of local artisans has now moved online. "Baro, the brick-and-mortar store, wasn't able to withstand the onslaught of the pandemic, so we're doing the best thing possible, which is re-setting. The Baro Market has touched souls from craftsmen, artists, designers, supporters of all kinds, shoppers. Going online is the ideal way to continue telling the stories we always have. You can expect the most unique products at sensible prices that tell stories of its authenticity," she told this diarist.

All music, all heart

Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike

It's around this time of the year when the music festival season kicks off, with the events taking place as far and wide as Arunachal Pradesh to Goa. One of the biggest fests that held in the sunshine state is Sunburn, which is dedicated to electronic music. But its stage is going to be barren in 2020 for obvious reasons. Still, the organisers are giving fans a digital teaser of the actual show. An online gig today will feature top DJs Like Mike and Dimitri Vegas, regulars at the festival. All proceeds will go towards the Goa CM's Relief Fund to fight the pandemic there. "This is our chance to give something back to the state where Sunburn began in 2007," said Amar Sinha, COO of alcohol manufacturing company Radico Khaitan, the event's co-organisers.

India's 100 at the Olympics

Abhinav Bindra

Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Lit Fest recently reminded this diarist of an interesting link with the launch of their new series, Sports Yatras. Revealing the reason for it, founder Anil Dharker shared, "This year marks the centenary of India's entry into the Olympics. The first ever Indian team, consisting of four athletes and two wrestlers, participated in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, so it's timely to start a series on sports.

Anil Dharker

India could head to Antwerp only because of Sir Dorabji Tata's support, the second chairman of the Tata Group. He was so impressed by the natural ability of our athletes who without proper training or diet had recorded creditable timings in athletic events. Apart from organising the team and its participation, he also financed it!" The series kicked off this week with panelists like Abhinav Bindra, Olympic gold medalist, sports writers Rohit Brijnath, and Boria Majumdar, the series anchor.

Bowling the real maiden over

Mang

Among the flood of WhatsApp messages floating around, an amusing, informative gem stands out about Dinshawji Pandole, Parsi founder of Duke's cold drinks company in Mumbai. It says that Dinshawji was a school teacher, but his first love was cricket, and he was good at it. He led the Parsi cricket team on a tour to England in 1888. He took 86 wickets in that series, using a type of ball made by Duke & Sons in Britain. When he returned to Bombay, he inherited some money and started a soft drink bottling factory in 1889. Dinshaw felt the Duke name would be auspicious for his company as he had bowled so well with that ball type. The taste of some of Duke's cold drinks, such as Mangola has likely bowled many a maiden over ever since! When we fact-checked this with a descendant of the family in Mumbai, he agreed that this message was Pandole lore, barring two points. Dinshawji Pandole wasn't the captain but a part of that team to England. Secondly, it may be misconstrued so to clarify, it was not the founder who bowled maidens over (he bowled maiden overs) with Mangola, but later generations that did.

Podcast time

Radhika Menon

Listening to stories remains a cherished childhood memory; they are our precursor to books. To introduce kids to this magical world, Tulika Publishers has launched a podcast with Spotify titled Talking Tales From Tulika which is produced by Asiaville. It will be available in English, Hindi and Tamil. Publishing director Radhika Menon told this diarist, "It was an exciting experience for us involved in the podcasts to create a rich audio experience from picture books. The episodes offer the oral storytelling experience for children. With sing-along songs on themes ranging from food fun to best buddies, the stories go beyond the books."

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