Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

PicGetty ImagesHusains India makes its way to the USThree years before his death legendary artist MF Husain was commissioned to create 32 largescale paintings depicting Indian history and culture The prolific painter that he was he managed to complete eight triptychs by 2011 Beginning July 14 these final works of Husain from the Indian Civilization series will be exhibited in the US for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago The stunning art covers a range of themes such as traditional festivals dance forms typical Indian households etc If only the artist so much in love with his country was allowed to live and breathe his last hereMumbai gets a corner for art and designOur friends in the art world know of CONA a modest art residency space run by artists Hemali Bhuta and Shreyas Karle by the edge of Sanjay Gandhi National Park Now CONA is set to expand into a coworking space and is inviting applications from artists designers and even researchers with a design social sciences or visual arts background You could be a biologist who wants to collaborate with an artist to make childrens books you are welcome hereCONA also has an analogue setup for printing techniques such as etching woodcut plate lithography linocut and screenprinting We have been functioning in small ways with our funds and with a little help from our friends but have now boldly taken up more on our hands with the setting up of a print studio a coworking space and soon a mentorship programme says KarleIndulge in dark chocolate and FaizIts easy to imagine losing oneself in the sublime prose of Faiz or celebrating nature in Kalidasas soothing verse Now imagine the same imagery with a chocolatey twist Piqued So was this diarist Turns out World Chocolate Day July 7 was an occasion for chocolate maker AllThingsNice to join hands with publisher Penguin India to announce a set of premium chocolates inspired by plots characters and themes from three of Indias most loved literary classics Meghdutam by Kalidasa Belgian Milk Chocolate with Lemon Zest and Cream Cheese flavoured White Chocolate Ganache The Cat and Shakespeare by Raja Rao Belgian Milk Chocolate with Coconut Crumble and The Colours of My Heart by Faiz Ahmed Faiz Dark Chocolate and Earl Grey infused VodkaPeople love books people love chocolates it was a simple idea it was adding a sense of taste to the story for the reader Thats why its the perfect synaesthetic combination mdash you read it and now you can taste it too says a delighted Vaishnavi Singh content marketing head Penguin on hitting upon the idea Priced at 360 each there are plans to introduce more flavours later With such meltinthemouth indulgences who needs higher intellectual stimulation Were off to place that orderPicSatej ShindeMake way for the proIleana DCruz tries her hand at the camera at an event in a Juhu fivestar over the weekend as an amused Anees Bazmee left looks onThe elephant reaches EdinburghYuki Elliass Elephant in the Room which delves into Indian mythology to tell an important story about migration identity and the environment has won fans among both adults and kidsWritten by Sneh Sapru and directed and performed by Ellias the play won several awards at METAacircu00c2u0080u00c2u00882017 Adding another feather to its cap the play will travel to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to be held in August I have attended the festival as an audience member but this is special We will be doing 20 shows over 20 days Ellias told this diaristKiss and tell across IndiaBoko ghelo dom kudi bhukki peenadoes a kiss by any other name sound as sweet We think so Online multimedia project Agents of Ishq recently shared a map telling us what kiss is called in different parts of the country So theres boko in Madhya Pradesh muttu in Tamil Nadu chok in Jharkhand suma in Assam and chumban or chummi in Himachal Pradesh The colourful illustrated map was not only informative but has quirky detailing specific to a region puppets holding hands in Rajasthan the iconic umbrella scene from the film Shree 420 in Maharashtra and a shikara in Kashmir And there are red lips everywhere the entire North Eastern region being one big one Now this is one map we dont mind studying in detail