<h2>Life in a metro</h2>
A man peers in the mirror as a barber cuts his hair at Aarey Milk Colony in <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-crime-news/article/goregaon-rape-case-20-year-old-woman-alleges-repeated-sexual-assault-by-husbands-acquaintances-in-mumbais-goregaon-cops-launch-probe-23645940" rel="nofollow">Goregaon (East).</a>
<h2>Run digger Lawry started off as a plumber</h2>
Our in-house cricket nut sported &nbsp;a broader-than-usual smile on Wednesday. No, it was not because India beat Sri Lanka in the opening Test at Galle, a venue that is one of his favourite cricket destinations. The delight was caused by the postman who delivered a book that he had been wanting to possess but was having trouble getting hold of.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Bill-Lawry_e.jpg" alt="Bill Lawry (right) with the late Garry Sobers. Pic/mid-day archives" /> Bill Lawry (right) with the late Garry Sobers. Pic/mid-day archives
Run-Digger by Australia captain-turned-commentator Bill Lawry is now finally his, and to our man&rsquo;s pleasant surprise, it came inscribed by Australia&rsquo;s captain for the 1969-70 series in India. Chapter Five provided a fine insight into how Lawry got the news of his <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/strait-of-hormuz-crisis-india-australia-want-waterway-reopened-at-earliest-says-envoy-23645575" rel="nofollow">Australia </a>selection.
He was just 24 and was working as a plumber at Victoria&rsquo;s Royal Children&rsquo;s Hospital in 1961 when he was delivered the news of his selection for the Ashes tour to England.
The foreman came up to him and said his wife had heard the news (probably over the radio). Lawry didn&rsquo;t believe it at first, but was soon meeting reporters down at the foreman&rsquo;s office. &ldquo;You could say I was up in the clouds when I was told I was chosen in the Australian team to tour England. Well, I was certainly 13 floors above the city of Melbourne anyway,&rdquo; he wrote.
Lawry, now 89, no longer commentates but we miss his exciting voice for sure. And yes, as the title of his 1966 book says, he was very much a run digger.
<h2>Camera ke peeche kaun hai?</h2>
It has been 200 years since French inventor Nicephore Niepce made the first permanent photograph in 1826. But it&rsquo;s perhaps only been the last few decades that we have started to study not just what is before the camera, but also who is behind it. Whose gaze are we being asked to look through?
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Benedicto-Rivas_e.jpg" alt="Cementerio Mapuche by Benedicto Rivas depicts a sacred indigenous burial ground in Chile. Pic/courtesy Biblioteca Nacional de Chile" width="1280" height="720" /> Cementerio Mapuche by Benedicto Rivas depicts a sacred indigenous burial ground in Chile. Pic/courtesy Biblioteca Nacional de Chile
These are questions that acclaimed Chilean photographer Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo has explored through his project Mank&rsquo;acen, that is now on exhibit at NCPA&rsquo;s Dilip Piramal Art Gallery till September 20 to mark the Bicentennial of Photography. It reconsiders photography beyond the Western narrative, tracing its genesis &mdash; which Sergio&rsquo;s project shows might have begun not with Niepce, but much earlier.&nbsp;
The exhibition traces how photography travelled across continents, its arrival in the Americas, how it functioned first as a tool of colonial power, and later a medium of resistance. With the Mumbai exhibition, the curator has expanded the project&rsquo;s scope to India as well, exploring the violence and myths that accompanied the introduction of photography by colonial powers.
&ldquo;We always think of photography as Western. It&rsquo;s very difficult for us [colonised people] to put ourselves on the other side of this camera,&rdquo; says Sergio, &ldquo;Photography is not neutral. I think we need to be very careful when we read the images, and examine what perspective it is being taken from.&rdquo;
<h2>Ladies lunch</h2>
This diarist was on an assignment in Thane recently, and it was lunch time. While we were in the middle of stressing out about our own article, we saw a sea of pink and purple. Laughter accompanied these pretty colours. It was Snabbit women workers who were resting and having their lunch for the day, giggling at inside jokes and just being themselves. We thought about how having an identity for oneself is so liberating, especially if you are women.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Snabbit_e.jpg" alt="A row of Snabbit women workers taking a lunch break at Majiwada, Thane. Pic/Arpika Bhosale" width="1280" height="720" /> A row of Snabbit women workers taking a lunch break at Majiwada, Thane. Pic/Arpika Bhosale
Going to work, having work friends and the confidence to bring home the bacon is an universal experience shared by all women. As a woman running around trying to work as a journalist, such scenes always reminds me about what my father told me with regards to women&rsquo;s autonomy. &ldquo;A job will give the kind of autonomy that no one can buy for you,&rdquo; he had said. So to all my app-based worker girlies, we see you and we are proud of you.
<h2>Mumbai plays muse for Colaba boy&rsquo;s album</h2>
When this diarist heard that musician Zain Calcuttawala aka Bulli Bainbridge is coming out with a new album, we messaged him instantly. &ldquo;I wrote some 18 songs in just a year,&rdquo; he tells over a phone call, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d been producing artistes and remixing indie and hip-hop songs for a while. Suddenly, I had this urge to just write.&rdquo;
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Bulli-Bainbridge_e.jpg" alt="Bulli Bainbridge&rsquo;s new album comes out on September 24. PIC COURTESY/Ambika Singh" width="1280" height="720" /> Bulli Bainbridge&rsquo;s new album comes out on September 24. PIC COURTESY/Ambika Singh
And write he did. His new self-titled album Bulli Bainbridge containing seven songs, is set to come out on September 24. &ldquo;I think this album is the most accurate representation of who I am. My previous album was also all collaborations, that has its own space. But over the years, I&rsquo;ve really honed my voice.&rdquo;
Lyrics like &ldquo;The circus is in town this week/My bike carries a family/The price of life is more than afforded&rdquo; capture what it&rsquo;s like to live in &nbsp;the city today.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve grown up in South Bombay,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;The old Victorian and art deco buildings have always inspired me. I just watched Taxi Driver [1976] for the first time last month. The feeling of watching something on film, its grainy texture, that&rsquo;s unmatched. I wanted to capture that feeling with this album.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<h2>For every chai lover</h2>
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Chai_e.jpg" alt="Harshini Kishan&rsquo;s recent artwork with a chai and a kettle on a canvas" width="1280" height="720" /> Harshini Kishan&rsquo;s recent artwork with a chai and a kettle on a canvas
Visual artist and painter Harshini Kishan has been practising art for several years. &ldquo;My primary medium is mixed media on canvas. I work with paint along with textiles, fabrics and threads,&rdquo; she says. Recently, her new artwork is cutting chai using a real kettle and a real chai cup on stretched canvas.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/aug/Artist_e.jpg" alt="Harshini Kishan" width="1280" height="720" /> Harshini Kishan
&ldquo;The cutting chai and Mumbai pieces are very personal to me because they come from everyday experiences and memories of the city,&rdquo; she says. &nbsp;&ldquo;Mumbai is not just a place to me; it has a certain energy, rhythm, and character that I have grown up with.&rdquo; Currently, she continues to experiment mixed media, exploring memories, culture through paint and textiles.

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

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Life in a metro

Run digger Lawry started off as a plumber

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