Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Track the ice creamA young consumer In Goregaon East looks with laser focus at a treat that could be hisBond is now on your laptopsThe Neev Book Award 2021 is back to showcase and celebrate distinguished childrenrsquos literature in India And guess who is doing a keynote conversation Our favourite Ruskin Bond who is probably doing this virtual event for the first time since the pandemic Kavita Gupta cofounder and curator of Neev Literature Festival for Children says ldquoRuskinrsquos 70year legacy resonates with Neevrsquos mission of curating Indiarsquos stories for children its relationship with nature and philosophy of kutumb community His range of the scary humorous touching and everyday is a testament to his wideranging mind Itrsquos also the first time he is taking part in an online festivalrdquo If you wish to participate preregistration is advisedShoutout to Tehranrsquos SikhsAfter giving Mumbai its first Irani cafe in 50 years in 2015 filmmaker Mansoor Showghi Yezdi is all set for his next outingmdasha documentary on the Sikh community in Tehran Titled A Bit of Punjab in Persia the film will put the spotlight on the community and the MasjideHindan gurdwara in Tehran ldquoThe Sikhs stand out as the dominant Indian community in Iranrdquo he says ldquoTheir innate sense of adventure and capacity to assimilate themselves within the milieu of farflung lands without losing their distinct cultural identity has been one of its great strengths They are warmhearted and make friends easily which has invariably held them in good stead As a filmmaker I wanted to showcase thisrdquoHow elastic Derek Randall got his tieNottinghamshirersquos Derek Randall fools around with a magnum whisky bottle at Trent Bridge Nottingham in 1991 PicGetty ImagesWhile Indiarsquos cricket head coach Ravi Shastri will continue to be vilified for having the team over for his recent book launch in London without anyone wearing masks the nowinfamous function caused our inhouse cricket nut to recall an event which was uncontroversial yet funny It concerned Tony Greigrsquos England cricket team which landed in Mumbai to start their 197677 tour of India At one of the functions in this city the English tourists were given ties by their host as a parting gift Batsman Derek Randall known for his funny ways decided to make his way to the stage to collect his tie in an acrobatic way The Nottinghamshire man according to Christopher MartinJenkins in his tour book MCC in India 197677 did as planned and brought the house down with his athletic approach The Indian public later saw Randall do cartwheels on the field too and hersquos a sort of character that cricket is bereft of these daysThe fine layered art of burqasMumbaibased artist and software engineer Nargis Shaikh has been exploring the inner workings of Islamic geometry an exercise that has helped her understand how ldquolayeringrdquo works Her limited edition screen prints titled Mohammad Ali RoadmdashBurkhas is inspired by memories of her many visits to the iconic Mumbai street ldquoThe artwork is mainly an interpretation of the patterns and movement around the burkha sellers during the sunset hours at Mohammad Ali Roadrdquo the artist tells usNargis ShaikhldquoI tried to capture the homogeneity that the veil creates and individuality reflected by the eyes and body gestures of the women wearing themrdquo Layering informs not just the subject but also the process with Shaikh selecting serigraphy silkscreen printing where one colour is layered on top of the other individually allowing them to interact with each otherA film about Hindi cinemarsquos ace cinematographersAround six years ago when Hemant Chaturvedi decided to call it quits as cinematographer he remembers experiencing a lot of disillusionment ldquoI was getting the sense that things were changing very rapidly and at a more humane level in Bollywood It wasnrsquot a change that I was comfortable withrdquo he shares While Chaturvedi turned to still photography during this time he still had many questions unanswered about his work ldquoThatrsquos when I felt I should speak with those who worked much before me in the era that I saw the fag end of before I started off in the mid80srdquo Chaturvedi managed to track down some of these elderly cinematographers and ended up interviewing 16 of them including Peter Pereira who was famous for having shot all of Manmohan Desairsquos films Ishwar Bidri who passed away this year and the legendary Govind Nihalani Their stories shot in 2015 will soon make it to a documentary titled Chayaankan which is currently in the edit stage and is expected to be ready by December this year ldquoIn addition to this I have also interviewed Waheeda Rehmanji and five elderly lightboys whorsquove worked very closely with many of these cinematographers They have shared some wonderful stories including what they think a cameraman should berdquo says Chaturvedi adding ldquoIt was a way of understanding how their lives had been My interpretation of that collection of interviews also helped me sort out my own head It was a very personal journeyrdquo