Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Hung over the BayMany viewed the lockdown as an opportunity to get the ball rolling Citybased writer Rochelle Potkar was one of them for she worked on a new book Bombay Hangovers Vishwakarma Publications that is scheduled to tentatively release on February 20 About the book Potkar told us ldquoThese are 16 immersive short stories around characters of Bombay across caste class and religionrdquo With the title receiving advanced praise from the likes of Keki Daruwalla Manohar Shetty and Damodar Mauzo wersquore surely looking forward to itProducing talentHerersquos an opportunity for film producers from India and the South Asian region to widen their horizons across the globe The Storiculture Company a lsquonativeforglobalrsquo network of film and content expertise has launched the first edition of Producer Land Itrsquos a programme that will allow 15 promising producers from this part of the world to be mentored by 40 international experts for four months so that they can increase their skill sets and build a contact base across countries ldquoGlobal aspiration cultural rootedness motivation and past experience are some of the parameters that the applicants will be judged on during the selection processrdquo shared Celine Loop in pic cofounder of the organisation Log on to thestoriculturecompanycom to send in your entriesRemembering the Mahatma with musicMahatma Gandhirsquos death anniversary was last weekend and Mani Bhavan along with Gandhi Smaran Nishi in Mumbai organised an online concert that Indian classical music stalwarts Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan in pic curated A group of young musicians including Shantanu Herlekar and Pavithra Chari took part in it Speaking about the relevance of the Mahatma in todayrsquos day and age Pradhan told this diarist ldquoWe feel that Gandhirsquos message of nonviolence and truth is particularly relevant in present times when violence hatred communalism lack of transparency and dishonesty seem to pervade our societyrdquoRevealing notes on inequalityA new track composed by Indian Ocean bassist Rahul Ram lays bare the stark inequalities that exist between the upper crust of society and those who occupy the lower rungs even as the pandemic carries on disrupting our lives Ram composed it as part of a campaign called FightInequality that activists and frontline workers have launched in association with NGO conglomerate Oxfam and which is aimed at amassing a recovery package for the worstaffected people during this tough period Ram shared ldquoThis song was structured in such a way that it would allow people from different groups to sing about the inequalities that affect them the mostrdquo Oxfam also revealed the results of a study it carried out titled The Inequality Virus It revealed how the wealth of the countryrsquos top 100 billionaires increased by 1297822 crore since March 2020 even as over 17 lakh people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April alone Now thatrsquos some food for thoughtBeing brown and loving itI am Brown Ashok Banker the USbased Indian authorrsquos debut picture book was conceived and written as a series of statements affirming the joy and beauty of being a brown child ldquoPublishing statistics reveal there are more picture books about animals than about brown or black children of underprivileged and diverse backgrounds As a child of poor minority parents of mixed race mixed religions and low caste I wanted to create a picture book that represented the millions of others like myselfrdquo recalled Banker And now the critically acclaimed bestseller that earned a Book Trust Great Books 2020 recognition has just been nominated for the prestigious Derby Childrenrsquos Picture Book Award ldquoItrsquos been showered with love from parents educators and of course children all over the world Its success and popularity is encouraging Every child should be able to see themselves represented in the books they read and such inclusive picture books are an important first step in making them feel included loved and specialrdquo