Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Back to the grindJust a day after freely posing with fans in New York with rumoured beau Ranbir Kapoor actor Alia Bhatt reached Mumbai and immediately set off to work bidding adieu to her mother Soni Razdan and friends PicSameer MarkandeModis love for BambaiWhen a top politician decides to go on an indie or viral platform you can be sure that they have more to gain than the platform It was the case when Obama plugged his healthcare bill on Between Two Ferns It was true of Kejriwal when he appeared in TVFs viral Arnub series And so it is true with Narendra Modi who featured in The Humans of Bombay as their first big profile of 2019How did that come about Modi says he always heard about references to Bambai around him and wondered if he would ever get to see the city of dreams I would hear some traders speak about Bambai and wonder Will I ever get to see the city of dreams I was always curious ndash I would go to the library and read everything I could get my hands on he said in the post Well not only has he seen the city of dreams but he will also be finishing five years at the seat of power not to forget the 90 countries he has visited since becoming PM Whether such social media campaigns will help him do an encore remains to be seenGood timing helps AmolAmol Muzumdar the former Mumbai cricket captain who was terribly unlucky not to wear India colours is a busy man these days On Wednesday the cricketerturnercommentator was travelling from Kolkata to Hyderabad after doing duty in the Delhi vs Bengal Ranji Trophy game at Eden Gardens As soon as Muzumdars flight landed in Hyderabad from where he would take another flight to Vijayawada for a womens Challenger Trophy game he took a call from his friend Amit Dani who informed Muzumdar that coach Ramakant Achrekar had passed awayMuzumdar immediately booked himself on a HyderabadMumbai flight and landed in the wee hours of Thursday morning and thats how he could attend his mentors funeral at Shivaji Park Had it not been for Danis call during the stopover Muzumdar would not have been able to make it in time Dani was known for his alacrity while fielding He was supremely quick on Wednesday tooTata gets bookedIndustrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata dropped by one of South Mumbais most loved bookstores on Saturday Tata visited Kitab Khana in the afternoon with a female guest who picked up a book by IndianAmerican journalist Thirty UmrigarWe even showed him the new books on the Tata group and he liked them says Jagath Tekkate from the SoBo storeInsta confusionOver the past week Kelvin Cheung has been posting a smorgasbord of photos of Indian food including one of dosa Starting to study learn and practise a couple dishes I want to make for our family back home Cheung wrote recently explaining his sudden interest in desi fare Then the chef posted a picture of a bowl of piping paya and thanked Floyd Cardoz and Thomas Zacharias for helping out with the dishMuch like this diarist many others then confused the post for a teaser of what could have been an unlikely collaboration between two of the citys most celebrated chefs But it seems like the rumour got out of hand following which Cheung removed Zachariass name from the post We checked and can confirm that a tieup after all is not on the cards Would have been great though wouldnt itLittle Lullas hereFashion designer Nishka Lulla took to social media yesterday to announce the birth of her baby daughter Miraya The new mommy is busy making sure the little one is comfortable in her nursery every detail of which she has overseen herself Its our first baby and we are elated We are over the moon shares Dhruv Mehra Lullas husband adding that right now everyone is just waiting to meet the newbornA screen grab of Nishka Lullas Instagram postThis is the first baby from my side of the family so shes getting pampered from day one he adds The story behind her name is simple mdash Nishka is a devotee of Lord Krishna and Miraya means exactly that Mehra tells us So will we be seeing her soon We dont want to share pictures yet We want to keep things as private as possible for a while at least he concludesCatch 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