Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

May the best woman winEstablished to recognise the literary achievement of female writers the Womenrsquos Prize for Fiction has released its longlist for this year Sixteen titles made the cut wersquore happy to see a familiar name Avni Doshi features in the list for her debut novel Burnt Sugar which was also nominated for the Man Booker Prize Other longlisted books include Summer by Ali Smith and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa GyasiBooker Prizewinning novelist and chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo said the list represented a ldquowide and varied range of fiction by women that reflects multiple perspectives and narrative stylesrdquo The shortlist will be announced on April 28 and the winner on July 7 Watch this space to find out who bags the top prizeThe high cost of fashionToday the fashion industry contributes roughly 20 per cent of the worldrsquos industrial water pollution The manufacturing of a cotton shirt and denim jacket consumes enough drinking water for one person for six years Itrsquos facts like these that photographer Prarthna Singhrsquos recent series for The ReFashion Hub a collective that raises awareness about water wastage in the fashion industry highlights The 10 photographs capture common clothing items and narrate themes of utility consumption and discarding ldquoI was struck by how little we think of how our clothes are made or where they might end up The blackandwhite images communicate a quiet moment of reflection and recognitionrdquo Singh saidArt for a causeOn March 10 a charity art raffle and sale is being organised to raise funds and awareness about discrimination and violence against girls and women Titled A Win For All the event will feature a curated section of artworks by known artists including Michelle Poonawalla Seema Kohli Satish Gupta and Kisalay Vora among others Of these Poonawallarsquos piece Flutter Fly in pic uses a motif that represents metamorphosis and both beauty and freedom ldquoHere the butterfly is a pertinent symbol of hope as we look towards a better future for women and of feminine strength and beauty as wellrdquo she told this diarist Proceeds from the sales will be directed to a nonprofit named BreakthroughA song and danceItrsquos a big day for popular dance crew MJ5 The quintet is relaunching itself as a boy band with Bawaal their debut track that launches today Itrsquos a Hindi track with EDM influences which has an accompanying video shot in the Maldives MJ5 consists of R Kartik Himanshu Gola Rohit Singh Vishnu Kumar and Dennis Anthony five college friends from Mumbai who formed the crew in 2013 gaining limelight after winning a TV reality show that yearSpeaking of the shift towards music Kartik shared ldquoWhile our dance work has largely been influenced by artistes including Michael Jackson Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars we are also fond of BTS and the cult legacy they have formed as a boy band in the millennial agerdquoMaking music on the moveThe biggest challenge for folk artistes in India is a lack of visibility and hence recognition An initiative named Anahad Foundation hopes to change this by giving artistes a wider platform to showcase their skills ldquoWersquore working with folk musicians across the country to produce music videos which they can use to showcase their art at no costrdquo managing director Shruti Roy in pic said The team travels to the artistesrsquo villages to record them which hasnrsquot been an easy task with sporadic availability of electricity and a lack of earthing and high temperatures causing vital equipment to shut downFounder Abhinav Agrawal joined hands with Gael Hedding a twotime Grammy awardwinning engineer from Mexico to create a mobile kit appropriately named the Backpack Studio The kit runs on batteries eliminating the need for electricity Even the mics have been selected so that they are not visible in the videos This innovation will guarantee high production quality just like a bigcity professional music studio Roy asserted Thatrsquos music to our ears