Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Fish out of waterA fisherman collects dry fish at Madh beach MaladArt minus boundariesBhuri Bai is the perfect example of an Indian woman who rises above her circumstances to achieve dizzying heights which in her case is no less than the Padma Shri Thatrsquos the honour that the artist received on Republic Day for being one of the most prominent painters from Madhya Pradeshrsquos Bhil community and to think that she started off by painting on the mud walls of her home An online exhibition of her works titled My Life as an Artist is now on display at The Museum of Art amp Photography in Bengaluru and Kamini Sawhney the museumrsquos director told us ldquoBhuri Bairsquos contribution to the genre is significant She is the first in her community to have reinvented her practice by transferring her painting skills from the mud house in her village to modern materials such as paper and canvas making her art accessible to audiences and collectors around the worldrdquo Inspiring indeedTo beary good beginningsKaradi Tales founders with Karadi the bearThe affable voice of Karadi the bear might have become a favourite in the world of kidsrsquo audio books in India but we recently discovered that the first person to lend his voice to the character was Naseeruddin Shah almost 25 years ago When Karadi Tales posted a social media throwback to that moment this diarist reached out to publishing director Shobha Viswanath who revealed that it all started with a cold call a fax rather that her brotherinlaw and cofounder Narayan Parasuram sent to the actorrsquos officeNaseeruddin ShahldquoWe didnrsquot even have a letterhead then but his assistant replied and we met Naseer at his house Although Narayan and I were the official directors of the first audio book it was Naseer who guided usrdquo she shared reminiscing their recording days near Flora Fountain in the analogue era The cofounder added that it was Shah who set the tone for Karadi She recollected sending him their first cassette and book ldquoOne day he rang me up on my landline and I almost fell off my chair He said lsquoI did this project as Irsquom interested in telling stories to children but what yoursquove done with it is fabulous and we must do many more of thesersquordquo The rest as they say is historyGame for rapLeft KRNA and BadshahDelhibased rap artiste KRNA has tied up with Badshah for the first time and their new track Roll Up drops today Produced by Kalamkaar which nurtures local talent the track reflects the duorsquos signature style and underlines the hiphopinfluenced lifestyle of the millennial generation While Badshah shared that itrsquos an exciting collaboration for him as ldquoKRNA is one of the most prolific writers we have right nowrdquo whatrsquos also interesting is that Believe a Parisbased independent digital music distribution and artist services company that recently extended its services to Kalamkaar has also devised a racing game to market the song ldquoItrsquos exciting to be one of the first rappers in India to be utilising a game to promote a track Gaming is a huge industry in India like music and I wanted to intertwine the two as most Indian youth are heavily invested in bothrdquo noted KRNAWhen the newsman is the newsmakerWhile the farmersrsquo protest at the Capital is still stirring heated debates a prime time TV anchor ended up making headlines yesterday Senior anchor at India Today Rajdeep Sardesai has allegedly been taken off air for two weeks for reportedly claiming that the farmerrsquos death near Red Fort on January 26 was due to police firing According to media outlets the channel has also deducted his onemonth salary Sardesai had tweeted that the farmer was allegedly killed during police firing and also made the same claim on air Both statements were later retracted after the Delhi Police released a video reportedly of the same farmer showing how he fell victim to his tractor that had overturned With citizens already divided over the protests one can only hope that those in the newsroom donrsquot complicate things further for the farmers fighting for their rights