Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

In susegad modeAs a group hogs past a young man takes a break at a Powai playgroundJust arrived A diplomats new year giftGerman Ambassador to India Walter Lindner celebrated NYE in Sam Sand Dunes in Jaisalmer Before leaving for his mini vacation the rockstar ambassador announced the release of his latest album on social media In October last year it was no more a secret that the diplomat is also a gifted musician when he performed the Winds of Change for German Unity Day Titled Symphonic Sketches every instrument in the album is played on his Kurzweil Roland Doepfer and Nord keyboards In the post Lindner said This is my second release while in Delhi even though work on the 18 pieces began two years ago Beautiful symphonic compositions all played and recorded at Tucan Records Studio Hope you like itSydney cant always be the finale hostThe Sydney Cricket Ground PicClayton MurzelloSydney usually hosts the last Test of a series in Australia especially Ashes contests And had it not been for the pandemic the Sydney Cricket Ground SCG would have been the venue for Test No 4 in this edition of the BorderGavaskar Trophy as well Somehow India have not played all their final Tests of various series Down Under in Sydney When they won their one and only Test at the SCG in 197877 it was in the penultimate tussle of the series The same venue was the rubberopener in 198081 which India lost before the scoreline ended up 11 in Melbourne The 199192 seriesfinale was in Perth not the NSW ground while the second Test of the 200708 series was held in Sydney the famous Monkeygate Test The same schedule was followed in 201112 So while next weeks Test at Sydney also departs from tradition its going to be a mighty battleIts raining men all of this yearWere all familiar with calendars featuring sultry bikiniclad models but photographer Amit Khannas new calendar will have none of that Featuring men from diverse fields it has LGBTQi activist and singer Sushant Divgikar dancerchoreographer Terence Lewis and hairstylist Amit Thakur While there has been increasing discourse about womens issues I felt we are we are were forgetting the men All enders require equal attention We need to voice the pressures that men experience in society Hence the idea of anall male calendar Societal conventions demand that men stay emotionless if they are to be a symbol of masculinity But you can be tough and sensitive says KhannaRohans got something to sayBandra boy Rohan Mazumdar once the lead singer of Mumbai band The Colour Compound dropped a single on December 31 Titled I See Fire the song is a comment on the protests and goingson of the last year The feel is of a rock song meets anthem and Mazumdars vocals are strong and clear In the initial part of the lockdown I was just super overwhelmed by all that was going on From our lives coming to a halt due to the pandemic to seeing the plight of migrant workers I found myself stuck in an unhealthy spiral mentally and physically till I realised that the change needed to happen inside me So I decided to get healthy again and do that thing I do that makes everything better which is to turn how I feel into a song he says about the inception of the song Its been three days since the song released and its already getting decent traction When in the chorus I sing I hear it gets better it doesnt necessarily mean that things will do a full 180 Instead its us who can make that change We can roll with the punches and make the most of what is he saysMoving beyond IIM spirituallyAs we leave behind what in many ways has been a challenging year most of us are looking inwards for answers In this journey comes a book titled 7 Divine Laws To Awaken Your Best Self by Swami Mukundananda published by Harper Collins Now the journey of Swami Mukundananda in itself is an interesting one Having had whats probably still considered the best education in India the IITIIM graduate turned to spirituality to find his true self After the course I worked for a few months but the call of God was so great that I gave up everything and took sanyas It was after five years of travelling across India staying at a number of monasteries and meeting several teachers that he found his guru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj and another part of his spiritual journey began