The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Ashish Raje
No spin in this task
Ten young batters wait for their turn to bat with helmets on during a selection trial at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana, Dadar
Stay cheerful, b’day boy!
Vinod Kambli
Vinod Kambli turns 54 today. His fans cringe when they see videos of him struggling on the health front. All they want is a fighting fit Kambli that they watched as he carved Test double hundreds for India in that great season for him — 1992-93. With so many of his contemporaries involved in coaching and mentorship, it’s a pity Kambli didn’t make it often to dugouts, where his instructions would have been followed and instincts appreciated. It’s never to late, feel the Kambli optimists and one never says never. Here’s wishing you all the best, Vinod Ganpat Kambli. And don’t lose your sense of humour.
Cinema for the ears
Travellers, an immersive music show brought about by Soumik Datta, begins its Indian tour on January 15 in Jaipur
Award-winning sarod musician and composer Soumik Datta begins the new year with a new run of dates for his much-acclaimed immersive show, Travellers. Developed during a summer residency at Mumbai’s G5A in 2025, the touring production will travel to major cultural platforms including the Jaipur Music Stage, held alongside the Jaipur Literature Festival, and the Kochi Biennale. The tour will also feature a special performance at Soho House Mumbai on January 26. Blending classical instrumentation with field recordings, spoken word, and contemporary sound design, Travellers explores what Datta calls “ear cinema.” “Performing Travellers across India has felt less like a concert and more like a shared reckoning,” says Datta. “Indian audiences listen actively; they feel the weight of the stories behind the sound. To watch a room fall silent as the sarod moves through news reports and echoes of displacement has been deeply humbling.”
The run that made history
Pooja Krishnamoorthy is the first Indian woman to finish Brazil 135. PIC/INSTAGRAM@poojamoorthy
Mumbai-based runner Pooja Krishnamoorthy has finished the Brazil 135 — one of the world’s toughest ultramarathons — completing 217 kilometres in 48 hours and becoming the first Indian woman to qualify for and finish the race. The course climbs nearly 20,000 feet across mountains, valleys, and punishing terrain, swinging between humid jungles and cold highlands, all within a 60-hour cut-off. For 21 years, no Indian woman had even attempted it. “Every year, we hear about men finishing these iconic races, but one rarely hears about a woman. We have so many strong female ultrarunners in the country. It felt like it was time for someone to take that leap. If it inspires even one woman, it’s a win for me,” says Krishnamoorthy.
Mumbai’s luxe evolution: Boomers to GenZ
Dr Biren Vaidya
When Purnima Sheth started a B2B diamond jewellery enterprise at Mumbai’s diamond hub in Opera House, the luxury buyer then looked for trust, value and relationship, says Sheth’s brother Dr Biren Vaidya. The diamond bourse moved to BKC, and the consumer also changed with the Internet and globalisation. “My parents’ generation and part of my generation was mentally colonised that the West was better. Today’s generation is agnostic. And that’s why, of the 16 experiences that the store has to offer, only seven are about retail,” Dr Vaidya, the managing director of the Rose Group, tells this diarist at their 45th anniversary party at their Ballard Estate flagship, House of Rose. The 21,000 sq ft luxury experience space that includes exclusive watches and jewellery has also introduced vegan shawls and crockery at the store with their anniversary, “so vegetarians can eat on luxe vegan plates,” says Dr Vaidya. “Luxury is what you see, smell and taste too, why we have a bar and a dinner table at the store. Your generation looks at something beyond aspiration, luxury also means silence and experiencing. “When I went to Basel in 1989, I was awestruck. There was not a single Indian label there, and ones present, had built themselves on and were inspired by the luxury of pre-independence Indian HNI (High Network Individuals) which were the Maharajas and industrialists then. That inspired me to create an Indian brand of international standing.”
‘Our Jugmug star Jugal’
Jugal Mody. Pic/Instagram
It has been a sombre week for the city’s literary circles since the news of Jugal Mody’s passing on. The author-artist-gamer was a well-loved figure in the city. Mody had been battling health issues for a while and collapsed in a Delhi cafe due to cardiac arrest. Manisha Lakhe, Caferati co-founder, shares, “He used to say the funniest things, and his writing was phenomenal.” He was many different things to different people. Some remember him for his tongue-in-cheek Instagram videos, others still remember him as a gifted tarot reader. His sudden death has come as a shock to his friends, who will be meeting at Lakhe’s home today to celebrate his life. “We used to call him a shining star,” recalls Lakhe, “and he’d say, ‘No, Jugmug’. He will forever be our Jugmug sitaara.”
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
