<h2>Cool Cat</h2>
<p>This feline model at Crawford Market doesn&rsquo;t seem to appreciate the man&rsquo;s attempt at familiarity</p>
<h2>Konichiwa, chef Kably</h2>
<p><img src="http://origin.mid-day.com/images/2025/mar/Kably_e.jpg" alt="Nooresha Kably accepting the award from the Ambassador of Japan to India, Keiichi Ono" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Nooresha Kably accepting the award from the Ambassador of Japan to India, Keiichi Ono</em></strong></p>
<p>In a landmark moment for India&rsquo;s culinary scene, Chef Nooresha Kably and Chef Brehadeesh Kumar have been named Goodwill Ambassadors for promoting Japanese Cuisine by Japan&rsquo;s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This marks the first time India-based chefs have received this honour.&nbsp;A pioneer in Japanese gastronomy in India, Kably reinvented herself at 45, training in Japan and launching Izumi in Mumbai and Goa. &ldquo;It marks the highlight of everything my partners, the Izumi team, and I have been striving for&mdash;to deliver an authentic Japanese food experience to patrons in India,&rdquo; says Kably, adding, &ldquo;I am immensely grateful to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestries and Fisheries and the Embassy of Japan.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>An eye for horror</h2>
<p><img src="http://origin.mid-day.com/images/2025/mar/Shruti-Haasan-a_e.jpg" alt="Shruti Haasan (centre) with the film festival founder, Sapna Bhavnani, on her right. Pic/Parijat Pansaray" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Shruti Haasan (centre) with the film festival founder, Sapna Bhavnani, on her right. Pic/Parijat Pansaray</em></strong></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s only fitting that the city&rsquo;s very own goth queen Shruti Haasan should make her international debut with a spooky film, and we were most pleased to catch the first peek at it recently at the Wench Film Festival. British psychological thriller film The Eye, which stars Haasan in the lead role, premiered at the horror film fest&rsquo;s opening day in Andheri. Haasan essays the role of Diana, a widow who travels back to the island where her husband Felix drowned to scatter his ashes. There, she learns of the Evil Eye ritual which can bring her husband (played by Mark Rowley) back from death. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been drawn to stories that explore love, darkness, and self-discovery,&rdquo; Haasan said at the premier, adding, &ldquo;The Eye allowed me to confront those emotions on screen, and working with such an incredibly talented all-female creative team made the experience even more special.&rdquo; The Eye, directed by Daphne Schmon, is set for theatrical release this year. It numbers among 35 women-and-queer-made films (out of a total of 42) being screened at the festival. This year, founder Sapna Bhavnani also launched Terror Talkies, the country&rsquo;s first horror and fantasy publication.</p>
<h2>Get cleaning with the kids</h2>
<p><img src="http://origin.mid-day.com/images/2025/mar/Carter-road-cleanup_e.jpg" alt="Viyomi (left) and Aisha" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Viyomi (left) and Aisha</em></strong></p>
<p>Inspired by a school programme on pollution in our oceans, two seven-year-olds are organising a beach clean-up on Carter Road today. Aisha Nihalani and Viyomi Mataliya, Standard 2 students at Ecole Mondiale World School (Juhu), have taken it upon themselves to initiate a clean-up drive in collaboration with Carter Clean Up. &ldquo;It was Viyomi&rsquo;s idea and we decided to do this together,&rdquo; says Aisha. Viyomi chimes in, &ldquo;We have put a lot of effort into it and are so excited about our first ever clean up-drive.&rdquo; Please join the girls and lend a hand today between 7.30 am and 8.30 am at Carter Road.</p>
<h2>It&rsquo;s a double celebration for jolly good Farokh Engineer</h2>
<p><img src="http://origin.mid-day.com/images/2025/mar/Farokh-Engineer_e.jpg" alt="Farokh Engineer " width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>Farokh Engineer</em></strong>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not all cricket stars are too reserved to make new friends, but some of them take the &ldquo;don&rsquo;t talk to strangers&rdquo; dictum to another level. To be fair to the modern-day cricketer, in the wake of all sorts of restrictions, it is not always possible to interact with fans. Farokh Engineer is different, though. The former India wicketkeeper-batsman is in Mumbai and had two parties thrown for him (on Tuesday by Cipla&rsquo;s head honcho Yusuf Hamied and former journalist Khalid Ansari on Wednesday) to celebrate him turning 87 on February 25. This diarist dropped in at the second party. He heard Engineer sing the Paul Anka-composed, Frank Sinatra-performed My Way and listened to Engineer&rsquo;s speech in which he expressed great delight at seeing so many known faces. And to those who didn&rsquo;t know him, he urged them to come and say hello, chat and share a drink with him. Mind you, we are sure that Engineer will do that for anyone who wishes to meet him. And for that, and many more of his great qualities, Farokh Maneksha Engineer is a jolly good fellow!</p>
<h2>You have a postcard</h2>
<p><img src="http://origin.mid-day.com/images/2025/mar/Performance_e.jpg" alt="The ensemble before a performance" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>The ensemble before a performance</em></strong></p>
<p>One of the events piquing our interest the coming week is a play in which both actors and audience are on the move. Postcards from Colaba is a bilingual play, in English with some portions in Hindi, performed over a scenic 1-km stretch in Colaba. There are shows slated for March 4, 5 and 6 (7 pm and 10 pm). The play promoters explained, &ldquo;Colaba&rsquo;s legacy as a symbol of Bombay&rsquo;s subterranean indulgences is made up of chance encounters and unwritten testimonies, all hidden in plain sight.&rdquo; They added, &ldquo;From film director Riyad Vinci Wadia&rsquo;s misadventures in a city library, to the Gateway of India bearing majestic witness to nocturnal shenanigans, the show weaves an intimate tapestry of Colaba&rsquo;s alternative history. The walk is punctuated with theatrical pieces that are all performed in verse.&rdquo; Book your walking space now at <a href="https://bit.ly/3CVL5Dy">https://bit.ly/3CVL5Dy </a>Wear comfy shoes to stride with pride, pun intended of course.</p><p>
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