Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Sitting prettyFatima Sana Shaikh settles into the passenger seat while leaving a bistro in Bandra on Wednesday PicBipin KokateThai honour for city chefChef Seefah Ketchaiyo of Seefah at Hill Road has done Mumbai proud again This time with the Thai Select Signature a prestigious award by the Ministry Of Commerce Thailand It honours restaurants that serve authentic Thai cuisine using unadulterated quality ingredients and follows a process where officials eat at the restaurant several times to evaluate the food and the ingredients used and to gauge consistency Ketchaiyo received the award at the Thailand Street Festival that she helped organise recentlyThai cuisine has gained popularity here over the years due to the balance of flavours and the number of Indians travelling to Thailand Its challenging to keep food as authentic as possible and maintain consistency which is why we use products from back home We are glad that people are accepting and loving this cuisine here she told this diaristStepping it upActor and dancer Robert Hoffman of Step up 2 The Streets fame is in India for a twoweek tour But his exploration doesnt end thereHoffman and Arsala Qureishi also met Remo DSouza PicShadab KhanHoffman will be collaborating with choreographer Ashley Lobos dance academy for two masterclasses in Bandra and Andheri on Friday and SaturdayRobert is familiar with hiphop and contemporary dance that is widely popular in the country and his perspective on it will add great value to the dance scene here Lobo told this diarist Mumbaikars can sign up for the masterclass at a Danceworx centreAll eyes on his futureEverybody in the BJP wants the party back in the government The anxiety intensifies whenever cracks appear in the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government The fall of the MVA depends on how politics plays out in the future but there are party sympathisers who seek divine intervention and are also digging into the horoscopes of senior leaders to find out the brightness of their stars which could help them spring back to powerExCM Devendra Fadnavis is one such leader who gets several uninvited visitors who claim to have an eye for peeking into the future and predict his return in the CMO sooner or later But were told the opposition leader doesnt take the predictions very seriously and has devised a trick to discourage the fortunetellers without hurting their sentiments Recently two selfproclaimed jyotishacharyas were brought to him by certain BJP lovers After giving a quick hearing to the predictions he popped a question to the fortune teller What is the time of my birth in the horoscope you have structuredWhen the expert said the time was 930 am Fadnavis said the information was incorrect which meant that not just the predictions but the face of the fortune teller also fell flat Fadnavis used the same trick on the other predictor with the same result We have learnt that people now think twice before revealing their predictive nature when they meet the leaderEvergreen Sobers on the moveCricket lovers have always marvelled at the allround skills of Sir Garfield Sobers but a WhatsApp forward of the West Indian great shaking a leg at an Indian wedding in Barbados has tickled enthusiasts of the willow game Sobers 83 is seen dancing to a Bollywood tune with no one in particular amidst wedding guests in an openair venue and enjoying himselfHe has always loved dancing and spent many a night at parties in his playing days Sobers was not an earlytobedearlytorise man but his latenight activities never affected his cricket In fact staying up late motivated him to do better for the team and he was determined not to let the critics tear him apart for at times dancing the night awayA break in BerlinThe Berlinale Talent Campus is a prestigious sixday programme that takes place in Germany where budding filmmakers take part in about 100 activitiesSeven Indians made it to the list of 255 participants this year including filmmaker Prantik Basu theatre artist and actor Geetika Vidya and cinematographer Acharya Venu Vidya a Mumbaikar told this diarist I will interact with individuals as well as organisations with the preeminent purpose being exchangeCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates