Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

The big pictureSachin Tendulkarrsquos fan Abhishek Satam made a mosaic to celebrate the master blasterrsquos birthday which was yesterdayBeloved JJ professor passes awayVasudeo S Nibre former head of department of photography at Sir JJ Institute of Applied Arts passed away on Friday He joined the institute in 1969 as an assistant in the photography studio and is remembered by colleagues and students as a sincere disciplined individual who was highly devoted to his field CM Uddhav Thackeray was among the students he taught in his 27 years at the institute Students fondly speak of him as a devoted teacher going beyond class hours to teach them about practical aspects like depth of field how to develop the film roll and the use of various kinds of photographic paper among many other things He even stayed in touch with them after they graduated Nibre retired from the institute in 1996Not without my staffThe hospitality sector is battling one of its worst storms But Bandrarsquos muchloved restaurant Out of The Blue is making sure their employees are not left to fend for themselves The establishment has created a safe bunkyard for the backend staff to live in on the premises along with lockers and bathrooms They are even providing essentials for their families and helping some with medical expenses ldquoOur first customer is our staff itself and so any decision we take affects them as much as it affects us Ninety per cent of them are from Garhwal Himachal Pradesh Odisha and West Bengal Also the ones who are from Mumbai have opted to stay on the premises as itrsquos saferrdquo said Rahul Bajaj director and conceptualiser at Out Of the Blue Once a day nimbu paani is served as itrsquos an excellent source of vitamin C and antioxidants ldquoWe also get them to do steam inhalation twice a day These are just necessary steps we take to ensure they remain healthyrdquoDreams do come trueSinger and composer Nakul Abhyankar known for giving us songs from Frozen 2 was recently part of a unique rooftop jamming with AR Rahman This jamming session featured a team of artistes involved in Rahmanrsquos film titled 99 Songs Nakul played the keys along with singing some hit numbers It was a dream come true he said adding ldquoIt was Rahman sirrsquos idea to do a terrace jam with a medley of some of his old songs and some from the film 99 Songs It was a superb idea and a very energetic session If you ask me to sing I can but playing keys made me a little nervous but it went really well and the whole energy really pumped us You see the video now on YouTube and it looks so great We never expected it to look so beautiful It was a fantastic and fun initiativerdquolsquoWe need our open spacesrsquoTina Nandi centre and Anca Abraham in white LYPMumbai founders in better times show how people can safely use public open spacesThrough the pandemic the one thing that kept us sane was being allowed to use open spaces After last yearrsquos lockdown which saw everyone holed in for nearly two months Mumbaikars for the second time now have been struggling to catch some fresh air Keeping this in mind LYPMumbai which has been curating experiences in public spaces in collaboration with local civic bodies artists entrepreneurs and community groups recently started a petition on changeorg requesting that beaches promenades parks and gardens in Mumbai be open from 7 am to 8 pm Addressing the petition to CM Uddhav Thackeray and the BMC the organisation has suggested encouraging staggered use of these spaces in a way that therersquos no crowding so that social distancing protocols are maintained In the petition LYPMumbai also shared scientific research which has shown that SARSCov 2 is less likely to be transmitted outdoors As of Friday the petition had over 3200 signatories ldquoAs research shows regular exercise sunlight and fresh air makes us less susceptible to becoming seriously ill from SARS Cov 2 Mumbairsquos public health plan should include ways to quickly increase available open spacesrdquoWhen Stan was Australiarsquos main manAustralian cricketer Stan McCabeWith a humongous amount of fours and sixes being hit every day in the ongoing Indian Premier League our inhouse cricket nut came up with a boundariesrelated yarn ldquoYarnrdquo we asked rather emphatically to which he responded ldquoYes a yarn thatrsquos what they call an anecdote in Australia And my story is true I read it in a publication called Great Triumphs in Test Cricket by Ken Piesserdquo The Australian team were touring South Africa in 1935 and onedrop batsman Stan McCabe spent a sleepless night trying to cope with faulty breathing caused due to the high altitude in Johannesburg The next morning McCabe told his captain Vic Richardson grandfather of Ian Chappell that he was in no shape to continue batting Richardson was a tough man and said to his overnight batsman unbeaten on 59 ldquoyoursquove got to bat If the altitude gets to you donrsquot run Just hit foursrdquo McCabe obeyed his captain and whacked the ball to the boundary ropes 20 times before lunch was taken McCabe ended the drawn Test with 189 not out It was as history tells us a great innings