The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Rane Ashish
Change of guard
Martyn Brabbins (right) Khusroo Suntook. Pics Courtesy/@symphonyorchestra_india
There is a new maestro in town. Composer and former chief conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins will take over from Marat Bisengaliev as the chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India starting January 2026. Having studied composition at the Goldsmiths University, London, Brabbins went on to be associate principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival, and also guest conducted the English National Opera in 2001. Needless to say, Mumbai will get its first introduction to Brabbins and his plans for the city’s premier orchestra during the conversation with National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) chairman, Khusroo Suntook’s conversation with Brabbins at the Experimental Theatre today.
Float like a butterfly in the park
A view of the gardens at Vashi AMC (right) police personnel help in the planting. Pics Courtesy/Dr V Shubhalaxmi
The iNaturewatch Foundation’s ongoing project to create butterfly parks around police stations seems to have got off to a great start. Having completed their benchmark of 10 stations across Navi Mumbai, the initiative has spread across to five new gardens opening up in Vashi, Vashi AMC, Turbhe, Sanpada and Rabale police stations. “This brings up the count to 15 butterfly gardens in Navi Mumbai. The advantage of the gardens is already visible as it has doubled the butterfly population within a span of three months,” shared founder Dr V Shubhalaxmi. In addition to the immediate natural advantage, the gardens also offer the police personnel much-needed relief. “They [the police personnel] are finding the gardens to be stress relieving, and knowing the stressful nature of their work, it is nice to know that they are finding comfort in it. This was one of the key reasons why we thought of creating more such gardens,” she added. With the success of this venture, the foundation now aims to create more such gardens around police stations in Mumbai.
The honour roll
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Pics Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons
The longlist for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2025 is out, and features a few familiars. From Urmila Deshpande and Thiago Pinto Barbosa’s Iru: The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve (Speaking Tiger Books), to Manu S Pillai’s Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of Modern Hindu Identity (Penguin) to the ever present Salil Tripathi’s (inset) The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community (Aleph), the list presents a diverse collection of authors in the longlist. With the awards to be announced in December, it’s definitely worth the wait.
Taking a paws-itive approach
Yogita Narvekar plays with strays. Pics Courtesy/@palfoundation.in
The August 11 Supreme Court ruling asking authorities to relocate the street dogs in Delhi to shelter homes has been the big talking point across India. Animal rights activists and welfare organisations from across the nation have expressed their disapproval of of the country’s highest court’s decision. As an act of solidarity, Pure Animal Lovers (PAL) Welfare Organisation, a pan-Mumbai community working for the well-being and protection of animals, organised a two-hour candle march on August 17 at Shree Swami Samarth Nagar, Andheri West in an effort to raise voice for the voiceless while showing their support for streeties in Delhi. “The candle march has been organised to show solidarity with our strays. The Supreme Court’s order to move all dogs to shelters is impractical, given the shortage of shelter homes in the country. While Mumbai is not directly affected by the order, it is as good a reason as any to remind people of the strays’s plight,” Yogita Narverkar, member and legal advisor at PAL, told this diarist. Highlighting the lack of measures taken to neuter the stray population beforehand, the advisor reminds people to look for a balanced approach to tackle the critical situation. “Mumbai is still better in terms of planned neutering because of the many organisations that join hands, but let’s not wait till our strays face a similar danger,” Narverkar signs off. Check @palfoundation.in for more details.
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