Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

The colours of freedomPeople celebrate Independence Day at a residential society in SionShedding light on PartitionMost of what we know about Partition comes from what we learnt in school and other historical texts But the folks at online platform Indian History Collective now want to make sense of that tumultuous period through personal stories and insights that people can share They are calling for submissions mdash in the form of video messages audio notes or written text mdash where people share their memories of that era whether itrsquos happy or sad Each submission needs to be accompanied with a photo or video which will be posted on Indian History Collectiversquos Instagram page in order to document that era Those interested can write to indianhistorycollectivecom by August 29Honey I shrunk the Mawa BoiEid isnrsquot quite Eid without sheer khurma Easter without marzipan And Parsi new year isnrsquot ldquofirst classrdquo without Parsi Dairy Farmrsquos iconic mithai the Mawa Ni Boi Itrsquos basically a mawa and milk sweet meat moulded in the shape of a fish complete with scales and fins two red sequins making up the eyes Fish has long been a symbol of fertility and regeneration with the Zoroastrians of India or Parsis considering it auspicious enough to include in every wedding feast and even decorating their threshhold with pescatarian designs of white chalk On Parsi new year which is being celebrated today every selfrespecting Zoroastrian home will prep for a grand lunch of dhan dar and macchi no patio rice dal and tangy fish relishTo share the joy with family and friends fish will be distributed mdash not raw or cooked mdash but sweet and moulded The boi fish or mullet is inspiration for two of Mumbairsquos oldest sweet houses Parsi Dairy Farm and N Lookmanjirsquos whose mawa ni boi fly off the shelves on this day When this diarist made an early morning stop at Princess Streetrsquos landmark address over the weekend the staff at Parsi Dairy Farm PDF was swarming around dozens of boxes of freshly moulded mawa ni boi stacked across the tables and floor The only other sweet giving it competition that day seemed to be the sutarpheni And interestingly it seems that the ldquoeat everything but in small portionsrdquo mantra is working at PDF too with a truncated boi being introduced an adorable mini thatrsquos barely fourinches long At 67 a piece we think itrsquos perfect for gifting keep away from vegetarians because this time not the ingredients but the form will freak them outFeeling blue at BandstandWith work ongoing to build the Coastal Road beaches across Maharashtra have been inundated with concrete tetrapods that are part of the project These have reduced the amount of sandy stretch available to citizens much to the ire of activists opposed to the idea of the project But the fact that the ones in Bandrarsquos Bandstand are being painted with chemical blue colour has irked them even further ldquoBandstand is a unique problem because the authorities removed the tetrapods from Haji Ali and put them there when it wasnrsquot needed Residents objected to it but the area is looked after by a trust and the powers that be got a green signal from it to put the tetrapods there From Haji Ali to Carter Road to Juhu to Versova these tetrapods have eaten up the beaches across Mumbairsquos shorelinerdquo activist Zoru Bhatena told this diaristGetting a new lookRecently Usha Thakkar in pic president of Mani Bhavan a museum at Gamdevi thatrsquos dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi revealed that the entire space will be revamped later this year to make it more youthfriendly We spoke to Yogesh Kamdar the museumrsquos honorary secretary to find out more about the plans and he said that the new additions will include interactive kiosks with touch screens ldquoThere were some issues with water seepage because of the weather conditions in Mumbai Architect Abha Lambha had done some reinforcement work at Mani Bhavan 15 years ago and she is in charge of the revamp this time too since she knows every part of the place We will also arrange the displays in such a manner that more photos can be accommodatedrdquo he said