Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Parallel LivesA worker heads to the wholesale fish market against the backdrop of a high rise on Senapati Bapat Marg in ParelMethodical expansionArt gallery Method seems to be on a roll Months after opening their Bandra outpost theyrsquore now expanding their Kala Ghoda space to the floor below Founder Sahil Arora shared that the expansion plan was on his mind since the beginning ldquoFortunately the space directly below Method became available There is so much more we want to do with our curation and most of it requires more space Wersquoll be able to experiment in terms of format media and curationrdquo he said adding ldquoEarlier it was difficult to curate a group show due to space constraints but now we can do it comfortably We are happy that we will now be able to showcase more artistsrdquoDina Pathakrsquos many rolesYou might recognise Dina Pathak as the actor who played the role of Amol Palekarrsquos somewhat mischievous mother in Golmaal Or you might remember her as the nanny who struck up a heartwarming relationship with a little girl in an episode of Malgudi Days But there is often so little we know about what the people we see on screen are like in real life For example not many of us are aware that Pathak once had a job translating articles into Gujarati for Soviet Land magazine in the 1960sOr that she had an active interaction with the radio a medium which mdash her daughter Ratna Pathak Shah told this diarist mdash was as strong back in the day as the Internet is today Pathakrsquos grandson Imaad Shah shared this throwback photograph on Instagram yesterday which was her birth anniversary of the time she had been invited by All India Radio AIR to play a selection of her favourite songs ldquoAIR in fact invited her on several occasions since she was great at chatting I also remember her going off to perform plays for the radio and even directing somerdquo Pathak Shah reminisced making us wonder about how many different hats one woman can wearAnd finally the doors openSamir and Amrita Somaiya perform a puja at Kitab Khana earlier this monthSome things are better together song and dance wine and cheese and in Mumbai bibliophiles and Kitab Khana But the bookstore had to shutter in December since a fire broke out in its cafeacutersquos kitchen leaving a devastating impact on its neatly shelved books But it is set to open its doors again in light of their 10th anniversary on the day of Maha Shivratri ie March 11 ldquoThe store will be open for everyone from 11 am to 5 pm Irsquom happy to say it looks as good as new A lot of people approached me for books that were affected for a feeling of nostalgia of the Kitab Khana before the fire So wersquoll have a little section of the stock that was part of the fire but is resellable available at a discounted pricerdquo owner Amrita Somaiya told this diarist Good news indeedTime for a sound editorial choiceAfter Kitaab a platform to celebrate Asian writing in English put out a call for submissions for The Best Asian Poetry 2021 anthology Punebased poet Arjun Rajendran inset has called them out for choosing poet and translator Sudeep Sen as the editor Sen has been accused of sexual harassment Rajendran has written an open letter to the editor of Kitaab on social media pointing out how three years ago a number of poets had written to the Sahitya Akademi to withdraw their works from an anthology that was being edited by Sen for the same reason ldquoI saw the editorrsquos name and freaked out This happened before with Sahitya Akademi but the anthology came out anyway with Sen as the editor No action has been taken yetrdquo he saidMaha champsAshoka Young Changemakers is a programme that supports social entrepreneurs who are creating ripples of change through their work in the fields of environment human rights conservation healthcare education and agriculture Wersquore happy to report that of the 19 teenagers selected for the second global edition of the programme from 12 states are 17yearold Sanskruti Dalavi left from Satara and Omkar Ganu right 21 a Punekar While Dalavi runs Shram Daan which implemented rainwater harvesting in her village to raise the groundwater level Ganursquos Sagar Seva conducts dissolved oxygen testing in the local rivers to keep plastic accumulation in the ocean in checkYashveer Singh global director of the programme said the candidates will get access to a global platform to share their journey influence the youth and redefine what success means ldquoYoung people play a key role in building a better tomorrow Along with their drive to do good these changemakers bring a diversity of fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the challenges the world facesrdquo he added