Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

A purple patchThe Texasnative Leucophyllum frutescens or the Texas barometer bush makes for a pretty frame near Metro Cinema attracting this shutterbugA friend remembers an artistFrom left Mehlli Gobhai with Jerry Pinto Pic CourtesyChirodeep ChaudhuriAuthor Jerry Pinto has paid a moving tribute to legendary Mumbaibased artist the late Mehlli Gobhai in his new title The Secret World Of Mehlli Gobhai The Man Who Found Art Everywhere The book follows the life and artistic journey of Gobhai through conversations between him and Pinto his dear friend accompanied by eyecatching illustrations on each page by artist Kripa B ldquoI met Mehlli Gobhai in 1992 and we became friends over a period of time He was one of Indiarsquos greatest painters but he was not the kind of person to promote himself He was he said suspicious of the cult of personality I wanted to find a way to talk to young people about art and I thought that a good way would be to show them how talking to a painter can fill up the gaps in your educationrdquo Pinto told this diarist The difficult part Pinto shared was what not to tell ldquoThere was so much that was fascinating how he sat in the audience at Shanmukhananda Hall watching Bharatanatyam dancers perform and sketching them in the darkness how he was asked to audition for the role of Dr Zhivago how he could draw equally well with the left hand and so much morerdquo Pinto recalled further The title can be found online on Pratham Booksrsquo digital repository StoryweaverChilling with master chefsJose Andres Pic CourtesyInstagramChef Prateek Sadhu of Masque had quite a fanboy moment recently when one of his icons SpanishAmerican chef Jose Andres dropped by his kitchen along with chef Sanjeev Kapoor The trio did what they do best had a gala time cooking awaySanjeev KapoorldquoWe got a call from someone saying that chef Andres wanted to meet us Hersquos such a legend we were so overwhelmed In fact he loved it so much he visited us twice We exchanged notes and he tasted our food He also showed us his motherrsquos recipe with whipped eggs sugar and mangoes and left a really sweet note for usrdquo Sadhu shared with this diaristThe seeds of changeRelish the mangoes but donrsquot throw away the seeds Thatrsquos the notsoaam message that environmental enthusiast Subhajit Mukherjee ambassador Majhi Vasundhara Abhiyaan mdash an initiative of the state government to mitigate climate change mdash is trying to spread Mukherjee is on a panIndia mango seed collection drive and aims to develop them into saplings that can be gifted to farmers ldquoWersquoll then use a grafting technique so that farmers can plant the saplings We have space in Thane to plant around one lakh seeds and wersquove also teamed up with nonprofits across India so that farmers everywhere can take up mango plantationrdquo he added The seeds need to be washed properly dried and then sent to Mukherjeersquos Charkop office For details and the address contact 9323942388A DIFFerent tenthDharamshala International Film Festival directors left Ritu Sarin and Tenzing SonamThis year the Dharamshala International Film Festival DIFFcompletes 10 years The team had hoped to celebrate it with the local community and their family of filmmakers and film lovers in Dharamshala said director Ritu Sarin But due to the current situation theyrsquore going online for the second year in November and are accepting submissions ldquoWe realise our work must respond to this reality and we plan to continue engaging with the film community through online workshops talks and screenings through the yearrdquoLockdown in playShernaz PatelTheatre lovers therersquos a new play virtual of course on the block Premiering on June 12 Cross Connection is directed by Shivani Tanksale and is a collaboration between Rage Productions and EnActe Written by Yogesh Anant Utekar it follows the story of a migrant worker stuck during the lockdown and a thief planning a heist ldquoWhen they reached out to me to direct I felt the migrant workersrsquo premise was a relevant topic that needed to be addressed The play is about a daily wage worker whorsquos homeless and waiting at a station to go to his village His wifersquos worriedShivani TanksaleHe then gets a call from a thief and it follows from thererdquo she explained At the end of the show there will also be a live session with Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel of Rage Productions and the cast and crew of the play ldquoWe rehearsed online Itrsquos tough because no matter what you do itrsquos never going to look like an actual play but yoursquove got to maintain authenticity I think we need the support of people now more than ever since those of us who gave everything to theatre have no option but to go online for the momentrdquo she pointed out