Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

A musical connectOne of our favourite Indie musicians Donn Bhatt is finally releasing his new album this week Called Connected itrsquos his take on modern life as we live it In an earlier conversation Bhatt had told this diarist that he found it amusing that we now live in an age where we have better relationships with our phonesldquoIn a way the title track is a love song for a phonerdquo he says with a smile Bhattrsquos musical stylings shine through and the album is a mix of many genres and we loved that ldquoThis album is a diary of a certain time in my life It is a further exploration between electronica and acoustic instruments combined with lyrical songwriting It continues where the last album left offrdquo says Bhatt We canrsquot even waitWait for meAditya Thackeray and host Rouble Nagi walk through a group of seated children during an event held in a collaboration between the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation and Rotary District 3141 The event was organised for over 700 children on the occasion of World Deaf and Mute Day in Kalina on Saturday PicSuresh KarkeraFlying HighOxfordbased British Airways pilot Mike Edwards whose recentlyreleased book Spitfire Singh Bloomsbury India rebuilds the lost story of deceased Air Marshall Harjinder Singh keeps coming back to India thanks to his love for planesWe are told that the Briton who was roped in as chief adviser to the IAF because of his expertise in restoring old aircraft has been training young pilots to brave the skies in these vintage airplanes for years now ldquoYou require a different set of skills to fly these planesrdquo Edwards said in a telephonic chat from UKHe will be returning to Delhi on October 8 for the Indian Air Force Day parade ldquoTwo vintage planes are expected to fly at the eventrdquo he says ldquoItrsquos important for the parade that Indians fly these planes I am going to be there as a lsquosparersquo just in case therersquos a crisisrdquo Irrespective the goodold vintage Indian plane needs to take offThe dream sequenceldquoA few months ago I dreamt about a bad a female fighter and went about looking for onerdquo says Mumbaibased filmmaker Aman MahajanHe then met Bahrainbased Priyanka Jeet Toshi Indiarsquos only female MMA fighter and discussed plans of filming with her Mahajan and Rashmin Dighe his partner at Troubadour Media got a skeletal crew in place and filmed with Toshi guerilla style on the streets of Kuala LumpurSo we ask Mahajan when can we see the 24yearold on screen ldquoApart from a brand film for an international company wersquore making an edgy docustyle music video starring Jeet Our next schedule is in Bahrain later this yearrdquo Rest assured we await this oneA welcome beefcakeSpanish fitness model and athlete Sergi Constance will be in Mumbai for the first time to attend a threeday fitness festival in OctoberConstance who has a large following in the city hopes to share his thoughts on fitness with fansThe 28yearold will also be joined by Miihier Singh the countryrsquos only physique athlete mdash men who are usually judged on muscularity at body building competitions Itrsquos raining dudes and we arenrsquot complainingNissarrsquos stumps are safe and treasuredIn the buildup to Indiarsquos 500th Test being played out against New Zealand at Green Park in Kanpur Waqar Nissar the son of Mohammad Nissar who sent down Indiarsquos first delivery in Test cricket at Lordrsquos in 1932 was more than just interested in knowing what happened to the three stumps from that Test which he donated to the Indian cricket board 10 years agoThose stumps signed by some members of both teams were treasured by his late father even after he migrated to Pakistan After all he claimed five wickets in the first innings and one can imagine how the English fans and players must have felt to see their famous opening pair of Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe back in the Lordrsquos pavilion with only 11 runs on the scoreboardWaqar magnanimously donated it to the BCCI when he heard they were planning to set up its museum For some reason Waqar couldnrsquot remember which BCCI official he presented the stumps to and kept wondering whether it was safe He expressed his anguish to Indian journalist and author Suvam Pal who got in touch with this newspaperOn further enquiries this diarist got a confirmation from the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai that the stumps were indeed safe and kept in a case We are glad too Wersquoll be happier when the museum is up and running