The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
PIc/Shadab Khan
The Insta Husband
A couple takes pictures during low tide near Dadar Chowpatty.
Mapping music without borders
Nomads is happening at the Abheygarh fortress in Rajasthan
The independent music festival Nomads by Magnetic Fields arrives with a lineup that feels less like a booking list and more like a musical map in motion. Among the standout names are Rival Consoles, one of the UK’s most influential electronic composers; Malian guitar virtuoso Vieux Farka Touré; and the Auntie Flo Band, blurring borders with their globe-spanning electronic fusion. Indian electronica finds a centrepiece in Curtain Blue’s Kesar, while Portuguese selector Mafalda, and Canada’s fearless D. Tiffany bring distinct club sensibilities to the desert. Taking place from February 13–15, 2026, at the sandstone fortress of Abheygarh, Khetri, Nomads was conceived as an antidote to over-stimulation.
When Chennai was too hot for Mumbai
Madras University skipper SM Krishnakumar (left) and SK Patel receive the Rohinton Baria Trophy from Bombay Cricket Association president SK Wankhede in January 1976. Pic Courtesy/Sportsweek’s World of Cricket
To beat Mumbai at any level of cricket in the 1970s was huge. And it’s safe to say that the Madras University team felt they achieved something more than just significant when they triumphed over Bombay University in the final of the Rohinton Baria Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium in January 1976.
Some members of that victorious team met on Friday evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the triumph. Several players in that team went on to play Ranji Trophy for Tamil Nadu and one of them, Sankaran Srinivasan (a friend of this newspaper), played first-class cricket for Bombay before he did for his state of birth.
While the Madras squad had a couple of future Test players (Bharath Reddy and TA Sekar), the Bombay University was flushed with players who would go on to represent the city at the Ranji Trophy level. One among those — Sandeep Patil — ended up playing for India.
Bombay University piled up 331 at the then one-year-old ground, where opener Ibrahim Ansari carved a century. Madras responded with 295, but Bombay could amass only 200 in their second innings; left-arm spinner SK Patel claiming five.
The visitors got to their 237-run target with three wickets to spare. Reddy, India’s wicketkeeper in the 1979 Test series in England, starred with bat and the big gloves in the final while Bombay’s off-spinner Avadhoot Zarapkar’s nine-wicket match haul went in vain.
University cricket was strong in those days. To merely say it is the opposite today won’t entirely encompass its irrelevance. The Chennai boys deserved to celebrate nevertheless.
Time for a 90s bash
A sanitised new safe house for women
In a here-today-gone-tomorrow world, we have the highest respect for stayers. One of those is a non-governmental organisation like The Time and Talents Club of Mumbai, which will be celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The Time and Talents Club fundraises through events for its different projects working primarily in the women’s health space or for paediatric cancer. A lot of Time and Talents work is on in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli.
“Here, women are often banished to a dirty, unhygienic hut when menstruating. We have built safe houses/spaces for them,” said a T&T spokesperson. A glitzy coffee table book launch event is planned at the Mini Turf Club, Mahalaxmi Race Course on January 28 at 6.30 pm.
The special guest will be Retd. Chief Justice of India: Rohinton Nariman. When there’s this NGO, music cannot be far behind. A couple of opera singers: Natalie de Lucia, an Italian soprano and Frazan Adil Kotwal a baritone from Germany, are going to sing. Crooning and causes — sometimes the twain do meet. Call: 8369972136 for tickets and details.
Banganga’s silent revamp
Varun Mukhi
If you’ve walked through Banganga in recent months, you may not have noticed anything different. That’s exactly the point. One of the precinct’s key heritage structures — Kashi Math, a centuries-old religious site near the Banganga Tank — has undergone conservation to protect its carved wooden dome. Humidity, pollution, sunlight and pests had begun to take a toll on the wood over the years, which has raised concerns of long-term damage.This effort to preserve the wooden dome was deliberately subtle.
Mumbai-based nano-technology company Vetro Power was brought in to treat the wooden dome using a transparent protective coating that strengthens the surface without changing its appearance. “The most important question was, can we protect this structure without anyone ever knowing we were there?” says Varun Mukhi, Founder, Vetro Power, Zyax Chem Pvt Ltd.
The nanotechnology treatment will help shield the wood from moisture, termites, fungal growth and sun damage, among other common threats in coastal Mumbai.
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