Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Getting their wordrsquos worthPicWikimedia CommonsThe NIF Fellowship by the New India Foundation is one of the most prestigious grants in the country that supports nonfiction book proposals on postindependence India The fellowships awarded for a period of one year carry a stipend on R18 lakh And this year in their 10th edition the foundation has awarded 11 writers mdash the highest number so far The list includes noted Bengalurubased novelist Anjum Hasan in pic Jayaseelan Raj an academic from Thiruvananthapuram and Jharkhandbased conservationist Raza Kazmi ldquoThe 11 NIF fellows will write books that promise to transform our understanding of contemporary Indiardquo NIF trustee Srinath Raghavan shared Wersquore looking forward to reading themLove in 13 monologuesKalki Koechlin and Maanvi GagrooThis weekend theatre buffs can get a bite of the Big Apple while being seated in the Maximum City Dipti Brahamandkarrsquos Islands of Contentment is a play presented by New York City theatre company The Tank and codirected by Arpita Mukherjee that attempts to capture the dysfunctional nature of modern romantic relationships through 13 monologues where the audience is invited to interact through the chatboxldquoGiven the unique virtual format that we have taken it to the content will be easy for the audience to relate to The pandemic has forced us to be more creative with not just the content but its format and execution as well It has brought the world closerrdquo said actor Maanvi Gagroo This experience urges the audience to choose the flow of the play with two carefully curated journeys to embark on The play hopes to offer people a chance to connect despite the isolation of the pandemic and is guided by a mysterious narrator It will also feature Kalki Koechlin Suraj Sharma Ajay Naidu and Sumeet Vyas among other big names For tickets visit thetanknycorgislandsofcontentmentVirtual masterstrokesItrsquos not every day that we get to tune into conversations with veteran artists mdash especially in the virtual world So this Sundayrsquos freewheeling discussion between Padma Shri Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and curator Gitanjali Dang promises to be special It is being hosted by Gujaratbased Gallery Ark where the 84yearold painterrsquos photographs from the rsquo70s are currently on view as part of the exhibition In The Light Of ldquoIn the trying times that we find ourselves in we hope this event allows people to dip into a world of beautiful conversation even for a few hoursrdquo gallery director Nupur Dalmia told this diarist To join check the registration details at inthelightofcomCanvas for the childrenArtwork based on the book The Miracle on Sunderbaag Street by Lola a sixyearold from MumbaiYesterday was World Art Day and The Big Little Book Award BLBA that honours the best in childrenrsquos literature launched a diversity wall online as part of the Big Little Book Art Exhibition The wall will include books across categories like mental health disability gender and ethnicityThe aim Swaha Sahoo head of the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts that helms it said was to highlight art and illustration for children within the Indian literature space ldquoIt will display the diverse work of the five winning illustrators through the years young illustrators and bookbased artworks by childrenrdquo she added Log on to paragreadsin to browseAmitrsquos got a funny remedyFor those whorsquove tested positive for the Covid19 virus and have been forced to retreat into weeks of isolation some comfort is on the way Comedian Amit Tandon begins his positive talk sessions from today for all those stuck indoors with little interaction ldquoDuring the lockdown I realised that people with the virus were feeling pretty isolated I thought Irsquod start these sessions for around 30 minutes where we can all talk and laugh Irsquoll be doing a few of these every day Theyrsquore not shows itrsquos more of a way for people to interact and hopefully feel better through their days in quarantinerdquo Tandon told this diarist