Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Winging itA senior citizen goes about his day outside CBD Belapur stationMaking a splashWhen Goa Sunsplash debuted five years ago it gave reggae fans in India a festival where they could soak in a genre that is still largely ignored in the countryrsquos independent music circuit Itrsquos back again today and tomorrow but in a digital avatar for this edition The lineup includes Jamaican veteran Clinton Fearon BritishIndian star Apache Indian and local boys Reggae Rajahs in pic Zorawar Shukla one of the organisers who is also part of Reggae Rajahs shared that itrsquos been a challenge to adapt to the digital format ldquoBut our festival has a tightknit community who really rallied around us We got so many mails and messages from people telling us that they were sad that it wonrsquot take place this year that we realised how much joy music brings to people Itrsquos literally for them that we are making it happenrdquo Shukla saidGaadi bula rahi haiAn edition of the rally in prelockdown times Pic CourtesyVCCCI on FacebookSeveral city events were held virtually or shelved because of the pandemic The Mumbai marathon that usually takes place on a Sunday in the third week of January is on hold Yet if our roads cannot have heels they will have wheels The Vintage and Classic Car Club of India VCCCI will hold its annual car rally on Republic Day The classy cars will head to Thane and back in what is dubbed as the Republic Safety Drive The key word here is safety mdash with all distancing protocols maintained We must remember now though that drivers do not have to wear masks in their private vehicles vintage cars included Also remember that many of these cars do not have hoods so openair driving is certainly safer for all occupants rather than in the confines of the vehicle Many of these classics have been bought from royal families by our passionate vintage collectors Watch them roll past with grace and style on January 26 giving us something to smile about after a painful time With the present tense and the future a little uncertain a whiff of the past is more than welcomeSail again with SinbadGrowing up Gurugrambased author Kevin Missal had always been a fan of the Percy Jackson series and fascinated by the story of Sinbad the sailor too And driven by this childhood fascination Missal has reimagined the story of the sailor as a novel Sinbad and the Trumpet of Israfil Penguin which hits the shelves on January 25 ldquoI wanted to do a different spin on this character So this book is like a lovechild of Percy Jackson and an ageold fable I worked on the book for about three yearsrdquo he said adding that at the heart of it the book is a love story ldquoIt takes you through how Sinbad overcomes obstacles and underlines the spirit of not giving uprdquoA museum of our ownldquoWhen we look at our heritage we find that there are so many gaps which can be filled with untold stories if you look at it from the lens of gender Womxn an inclusive word that refers to anyone who identifies as woman and gender minority groups have carried their heritage forward in intangible waysrdquo shared Mallika Dabke in pic an art professional who along with Charulatha Dasappa and Aakriti Chandervanshi is exploring these narratives by curating an online repository called Museum of Memories For the project thatrsquos being steered by Bengalurubased arts organisation Sandbox Collective and is aided by a British Council grant the curators encouraged people who identify as womxn or queer in the age group of 18 to 25 to find stories through recordings heirlooms photos art or writings inspired by the history of their familiescommunities ldquoWe got some interesting contributions and are curating them We plan to set it up as a website in Marchrdquo Dabke added Wersquoll be waitingWomen on topDespite how 2020 panned out a report by SparkLive which is a multilingual live online services marketplace has found that women professionals ldquoled from the front during the pandemicrdquo The survey based on two lakh sessions on the platform from March to December 2020 indicated that over one lakh women signed up for some online class or the other to upgrade their skills to bring home extra income or manage their wellbeing It also revealed that over 20000 young and middleaged women from Tamil Nadu learnt skills such as sewing stitching and embroidery to support their homes The report stated that women took control of their health too as over 60000 from middleincome families attended lifestyle classes We like