Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

How time wheels byIts been a while since we have got used to not seeing Sachin Tendulkar in his cricketing whites but we must say that he looks especially dapper at the launch of a luxury car in BKC on Thursday PicAtul KambleThe road to safetyMumbai Police has a highly active Twitter handle with an admin whos often witty coming up with clever puns to promote road safety Hundreds of people write to the account on a daily basis with complaints and queries and most of these are responded to in a timely manner But recently a celebrity wrote to the account to air a grievance and pose a pertinent question Photographer and director Atul Kasbekar pointed out how incidents of people driving on the wrong side of the road has now reached pandemic proportionsAnd he asked that if a motorist has an accident with someone driving on the wrong side will the former be held responsible The post generated a flurry of responses with Mumbaikars mdash including actor Eijaz Khan mdash sharing that they too feel the same The good news is that Kasbekar got a call from the cops immediately after with an assurance that senior officers will hold consultations on the issue We have our fingers crossedCalligraphy callingAlthough good handwriting and calligraphy skills may make your teacher happy Mumbaibased calligrapher Shipra Malhotra discovered that it cant get you a PhD I went to the University of Mumbai to check if there was such a course available and there wasnt she told this diaristHowever at the recently concluded National Education Summit Malhotra mdash who heads Calligraphy Made Easy a team comprising 30 people mdash won an award for Excellent Calligraphy Teaching in MaharashtraShipra Malhotra receives the awardBut there wasnt even a category before this edition The jury suggested I make this a panIndia movement but there needs to be more awareness on this front mdash especially because I have been teaching this as a graded subject in schools all over the city including leading institutions and municipality schools Malhotra says We hope that this honour will bring more recognition to the art formA web of supportNot only has the world of online dating apps made the process of potentially finding the one easier but a recent study by a popular dating app also shows that 70 per cent of Indians believe there is less stigma associated with the LGBT community than there was five years agoNot only that 44 per cent of users also say that online dating and apps make it easier for members of the community to be themselves and even express themselves more freely This is due to the fact that 61 per cent of Indians have identified as LGBTQIA on an online platform or closed group prior to formally coming out to friends or family thus finding an online support group to encourage them through the processThe right trackWith politics being the flavour of the season the debate on critical issues gets eclipsed by statements made by leaders Keeping the focus on what deserves to be discussed are two initiatives by Amnesty International IndiaWhile Troll Patrol India involves digital volunteers to expose the abuse that silences women on social media the Abki Baar Manav Adhikaar campaign is a dictionary tailormade for India which includes entries like D for Dalit rights and J for journalistic freedomAn artsy affair in the sunshine stateTis the season of curatorial announcements Last week we learnt that artist Shubigi Rao is curator of KochiMuziris Biennale 2020 and now we have the list of curators for the upcoming edition of Serendipity Arts Festival to be held in Panaji Goa in December While the theatre vertical of the fest will be helmed by Atul Kumar and Arundhati Nag the visual arts will be curated by Dr Jyotindra Jain and Sudarshan ShettyAtul Kumar and Rahul AkerkarWhile last year it was chef Rahul Akerkar and Odette Mascarenhas who were incharge of culinary arts this time Akerkar will be joined Prahlad Sukhtankar StArt India Foundation which is behind the murals you see at Churchgate station and the Sassoon Docks will also be curating special projects at the festival Conceived as a platform creating tangible change across the countrys cultural landscape we aim to make the arts inclusive educational and accessible Sunil Kant Munjal founder Serendipity Arts Foundation saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates