Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Break timeIn an ironical moment a man is seen crossing a road with a street signal at Gazdar Bandh Junction in Santa Cruz WestGoa calling for these Mumbai makersThe new space at MapusaMoira Road GoaIn 2013 when Vaibhav Chhabra launched Makerrsquos Asylum a community for DIY enthusiasts a garage in Bandra became its first official address As membership grew they moved locations eventually settling in Andheri News comes in that they have now shifted base to Goa ldquoA lot of makers have moved their creative businesses to this beautiful state and it was always at the back of our minds to explore but we never really found an opportunityVaibhav ChhabraThe pandemic helped us reimagine our lives as a team and Goa made a perfect fit We moved a lot of our courses online while doing relief work with the M19 Initiative in 2020 and having a physical space in Mumbai with the sky rocketing rents did not make any sense Hence we decided to pack up our equipment and moverdquoA Valentine for everyoneEven dogs need a date And Natasha Tuli cofounder of Soulflower knows that Thatrsquos why she has initiated Date a Cutie which is a weeklong Valentinersquos Day event starting February 7 to spread love and awareness about caring for stray animals She is encouraging people to go on a date with the dogs and spend time with them and feed them As she tells us ldquoIt has been a tough year and this Valentinersquos no one should be alone The season of love is not just limited to traditional celebrations of love as every living being is deserving of love So find yourself a furry valentine and let yourself experience the purest form of loverdquoPoles find a safe havenDAMIAN Irzyk Consul General of Poland in Mumbai had an interesting weekend He got an opportunity to restore the plaque at the St Josephrsquos Convent School in Panchgani Now whatrsquos interesting about this school is that it became a safe haven for over 30 to 50 Polish girls between 19421946 They had put the plaque on the wall on November 11 1945 anniversary of Polandrsquos Independance Day India helped thousands of Poles during the Second World War kids who were separated from their parents or orphaned during Hitlerrsquos invasion of Poland Speaking to this diarist Irzyk said ldquoIt took them orphan girls three days to travel from BalachadiJamnagar to Panchgani The girls started with a threemonth English course with Sister Gemma Besides them there were also Indian and English girls enrolled there They even met Mahatma Gandhi in 1945 when he visited Panchgani for a rest The place is extremely significant for IndiaPoland relationsrdquoWhen Chandra was Patrsquos secret weaponThe pandemic and travel restrictions have ensured the current England cricket team are not followed around by a large UK media contingent unlike on previous tours As India cricketers of yesteryear will vouch the British journalists would want to know more about them than just report on their exploits on the field In an article for The Sportstar magazine before Englandrsquos 198485 series in India ace spinner BS Chandrasekhar wrote about how the Brit journalists wanted to chat with him about his spin bowling just before his debut Test at Mumbai in the 196364 season MAK Pataudi who was leading India then intervened and offered to speak on behalf of his young spinner Pataudi probably feared that Chandra would reveal too much about his craft thereby giving the English cricketers a clue on what to expect Pataudi also instructed Chandra not to bowl in the nets when the Englishmen were watching Chandra claimed five wickets in the drawn Test at Brabourne Stadium and went on to be the scourge of the Englishmen in quite a few contests most famously of course the 1971 Test at The OvalCelebrating the cityrsquos water heritageOver the last one year nearly 30 professionalsmdashartists conservation architects photographers designers social scientists and urban plannersmdashcame together to start the Mumbai Water Narratives a project initiated last July to collect curate communicate and celebrate the cityrsquos rich water heritage To mark a year since the pandemic the project will now be organising a virtual exhibition Confluence ldquoIt seeks to capture Mumbairsquos multifaceted relationship with water from the rivers to the shores of the sea from wells and tanks governed by cultural practices to the fishing communities of Mumbai struggling to retain their livelihoods It also talks of the tanker economy servicing highrise apartments and the everyday water vulnerabilities faced by informal settlementsrdquo says Sara Ahmed founder and lead curator of Living Waters Museum which is supporting the event Confluence will launch on March 21 Those keen on participating can write to mumbaiwate rnarrativesgmailcom or follow them on social media