Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Return to InnocenceIn a gentle and telling gesture tribal residents feed a spotted deer at Sanjay Gandhi National Park on SaturdayOf mountains and maltIndian mythology is gaining popularity not just in fiction but among beverage enthusiasts too How about a whiskey made in the land of Mahabharata Ansh Khanna is set to launch a Kamet single malt distilled in Kurukshetra and named after Mount Kamet Its got a venous fruitiness along with vanilla notes that exhibit a melted concoction of fresh and dried fruit notes with subtle hints of spice and dark chocolate says master blender Surrinder Kumar who previously worked with Amrut Kumar has worked on the blend with Nancy Fraley Americas most prominent whisky blender and board member of the American Distilling Institute Kamet will be available early January next year first in Goa and subsequently across IndiaDo you want to plogPunebased software engineer Vivek Gurav founded the initiative Pune Ploggers that involves weekend plogging a combination of jogging while picking up litter drives More than 50 volunteers from different parts of the city joined Gurav in January 2020 Now the initiative has reached Mumbais Kharghar Hills Talking to this diarist Gurav said We started plogging in Pune and transformed it into a communityled initiative There are a lot of beach cleanups happening in Mumbai but the hills around the city also need to be talked about The Khargar Hill Range is a place people usually visit on weekends and is a chronic littering spot The Mumbai Ploggers team started SundayPloggers and will focus on the Clean Kharghar Hills Mission The team has been at it for two months and is reporting successKersis very own name gameOur genial cricket historian friend from Down Under Kersi MeherHomji was amused to read about a few Indian cricketers having westernisedVIP names or surnames He writes Take for example Washington Sundar Sanju Samson Prithvi Shaw and Napoleon Einstein But this not just an Indian trend Kersi points to Englishmen Julius Caesar 183078 William Shakespeare 18931976 and George Bernard Shaw 193184 who played county cricket Wait says Kersi There are more Charles Dickens born 1924 and still alive aged 96 played firstclass cricket for Griqualand West South Africa after World War II When he batted against Orange Free State he was dismissed by Keats Robert Kennedy a fastmedium bowler played four Tests for New Zealand in 1995 Born in Adelaide Victor Hugo 18771930 played nine matches for South Australia According to Kersi English humourist PG Wodehouse named Bertie Woosters famous valet butler Jeeves after cricketer Percy Jeeves 1888 1916 The word great is often loosely used but we have no hesitation in saying that Sydneybased Kersi is a great historianA homegrown meal in AareyVasan with adivasi cofacilitator Vanita ThakreThis morning as you sip your coffee photographer and Aarey activist Sanjiv Valsan is busy conducting a walk to acquaint urban dwellers with the science of foraging for food in a forest Valsan says the idea is to spread the knowledge of the forest As long as humans learn how to use a forest they will continue to engage with and protect it and the knowledge of how the foods are used will also be kept alive he says For instance he says some tubers cannot be eaten unless they are combined with other foods Importantly forest foods are organic and nutritious and have no negative ecological impact he adds The meal at the end of the walk then is a celebration of AareyMumbais sister act continues to gain tractionMumbai duo Simetri made up of sisters Riya and Simran Duggal is seeing a great end to the pandemic year Their single Different Kind of Love which released on December 12 already has more than 15 million hits What could have worked for the girls is their freshfaced vibe and clear and sweet voices In a world where oversexualised pop stars are the norm its good to see the young girls going in a different direction And we are digging their dancing skills Both have had a musical upbringing and have been singing since they were two years old They grew up on a staple of country and pop music as dad Rajeev and mom Melanie are both musicians In fact one of their melodies could be etched in the mind of every 90s kidthe title track for Zabaan Sambhalke Heres to more hits