Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

No hands on deckIn light of the weekend lockdown the bustle of this stretch on Marine Drive comes to a haltVerse goes virtualIn 2014 Cappuccino Readings started out at a coffee shop in Horniman Circle in order to have literary cafeacute readings in Mumbai Here in contrast to literary festivals senior poets would read with newer voices Over time the initiative evolved into private addas to build a literary community and have more meaningful conversations with poetsBut in light of its seventh anniversary this month founder and curator Anjali Purohit inset is putting together The Cappuccino Adda Poetry Festival with virtual sessions that include noted poets like Keki Daruwalla Ranjit Hoskote in pic Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Smita Sahay The festival will be held today and tomorrow on Zoom 5 pm onwards ldquoI plan on having a twoday poetry festival three to four times a yearrdquo Purohit shared For log in details head to Anjali Purohitrsquos page on FacebookMumbai bids farewell to two of its heritage guardiansFor a city like ours whose urban heritage is a source of pride the effort put in by countless silent custodians often slips away unacknowledged A little over a week ago this newspaper had written about the successful restoration of the 96yearold Commissariat Building It stood out as the first restored multitenanted commercial private building in Fort that adhered to internationally accepted conservation principlesThis was possible due to the support of the Commissariat family who lost their patriarch Homi over the weekend Vikas Dilawari the sitersquos conservation architect recalled his interactions ldquoA thorough gentleman he was keen to see this heritage building restored With great enthusiasm he would keep track of updates via a WhatsApp group and was looking forward to moving into his offices again in the restored building which he maintained was very lucky for the family businessrdquoIn Vasai in the palmfringed gaothans of Small Giriz its residents bid adieu to Renald Sequeira of Sequeira Art Works Set up by Renaldrsquos father Michael the famed master creators and restorers of statues and heritage furniture have contributed towards some of the cityrsquos most famous landmarks including UNESCO awardwinning Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum the 15foot cross at Salvation Church in Dadar the crucifix at Mount Carmel Church Bandra the restoration of St John the Baptist in Thane as well as Christ Church BycullaWhen this diarist visited their massive workshop in 2018 his sons Mingleshwar and Benzoni recalled how despite being ill the ldquoboss of detailingrdquo always insisted on sculpting the palms of hands of every statue that was being sculptedCity gallery makes a green markTARQ will focus on better packaging of artworks to reduce carbon footprintWith their roster of artists alone Colabarsquos TARQ has gained recognition for initiating dialogue around the environment through art Now it has become the first Indian gallery to have registered as a member with the Gallery Climate Coalition GCC a charity founded by a group of Londonbased gallerists and professionals to tackle the impact of the commercial arts sector on the climate The decision came about organically for TARQrsquos founder and gallery director Hena Kapadia She shared that she heard about GCC because of the other galleries associated with it including international contemporary art galleries such as Pace and Gagosian and Artlogic one of their backend service providers ldquoWe can do simple things to reduce our carbon footprint We can make changes to our shipping and packaging mdash be it through shipping by sea or using less plastic while packingrdquo she added Good call we thinkPortuguese flavours in Pali MarketWhile Soul Fry owner Meldan DrsquoCunharsquos plans to visit Portugal last year were derailed for obvious reasons the restaurateur has taken inspiration from his daughterrsquos visit to conceptualise a Portuguese cafeacute thatrsquos going to come up in the al fresco section of his restaurant ldquoIt will be called Cafeacute Porto Por Soul Fry Porto is a place in Portugal thatrsquos full of little cafeacutes and por means by I wanted to offer something different in the open area from what we serve inside so I thought why not do thisrdquo DrsquoCunha told this diarist adding that the past year has been a difficult time The cafeacute will serve Portuguese prego rolls cutlets pizzas Dalgona coffee different kinds of horchatas and the likes Wersquoll be waitingAnd the award goes toPunersquos Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival KVIFF is the only event of its kind in India which comprises film screenings and activities on the environment wildlife energy air and water The festival has been organised for the past 12 years and every year it confers the Green Teacher Award to educators in this field This year citybased entomologist Dr V Shubhalaxmi will be handed the honour ldquoItrsquos a good culmination of the 25plus years I have spent in the field of environmental education where I have done extensive experimentationrdquo she said