Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Aiming for the skyA man joins a group of kids as they fly kites at Juhu Beach on Wednesday a day before Makar SankrantiAll in the scriptLife has lately been quite rosy for Mumbaibased filmmaker Rishi Chandna Last month his upcoming film Ghol was selected as one of the projects to be showcased at India Film Bazaar a marketplace for producers and the larger film distribution ecosystem across the world Now it has been selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2021 meaning that some of the best international screenwriters will guide Chandna through the process of scripting the film ldquoThe lab is under the Sundance Institute itrsquos really the heart of the Sundance programme and part of their feature film development process for new filmmakers Stalwarts from the screenwriting world will be giving attendees oneonone attention reading their screenplays mentoring them and telling them what their thoughts are Also once you are part of the lab you are automatically also a Sundance fellow and have the support of the institute through various stages of the life of the filmrdquo he told this diarist Our congratulationsParsis and the gift of the jabA file photo of Adar Poonawalla and wife NatashaThe Parsi community seems mighty chuffed and with good reason too as VDay Vaccine Day approaches It is Bawa wahwah as WhatsApp is vaccine eloquent about the Parsi contribution to the Coronavirus battle A message reads ldquoBig Parsi contribution towards the Covid Pandemic First consignment of Covishield vaccine dispatched from Serum Institute of Indiarsquos facility in Pune at 0540 hrs Historic moment Vaccine produced by Parsi firm Serum Institute owned by Cyrus and Adar Poonawalla Stored in glass vials produced by the Parsi firm Schott Kaisha owned by Rishad Dadachanji Delivered by Tata Motors trucks Vaccine batches transported by Go Air owned by Jeh Wadiardquo Armaity Tirandaz chairman of Bombay Parsi Panchayat shared ldquoParsi thy name is charity And once again the stalwarts of our community have proven this as they hold the mantle of healing the country Parsis have always given their best to the country that has embraced them with such warmthrdquo Entrepreneurpublisher Maneck Davar had a thought provoking response ldquoPlease add Godrej for refrigeration This should serve as inspiration to emulate and not only to take comfort from for Parsi youth Quite a few of them have lost their entrepreneurial spiritrdquo Former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta put things into historical perspective saying ldquoParsis keeping their word given to King Jadi Rana that we will mix with the locals and sweeten the milk without overflowingrdquo Cheers to the milk more power to the ilkSweet meet in BandraDistance age or communication is no bar for true blue foodies Take for instance Jumana Potia a senior citizen from Bhendi Bazaar who taxied halfway across the city with a copy of this paperrsquos preview about Bandrarsquos newest dessert bar Monegraver in her hands only to get a taste of chef Freny Fernandesrsquo treats ldquoShe had got a bit lost so when I suggested googling the location Potia said she doesnrsquot need the Internet She had read about the degustation menu in midday and was keen to try it She chatted about her passion for food and lsquoall good thingsrsquo and even wrote me a poem the next day Inspired by this encounter wersquore thinking of starting a campaign called Humans of Monegraverrdquo an overwhelmed Fernandes told this diarist ldquoIt is touching to see how newspapers continue to forge great connections even in an increasingly digitised worldrdquo Donrsquot say we didnrsquot tell youThis startup is on a rollA Mumbaibased tech startup has recently launched an innovative rollable chess computer which they claim to be the first of its kind globally ldquoPlayers can record their games perform analyses using our compatible app connect with other players and receive coaching within the app The board is powered by AI and Machine Learning thus offering players the unique advantage of personalised instruction the tech enables them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and base their strategy on that They can also connect with other players across the worldrdquo Atur Mehta CTO of Square Off told this diarist He adds that while there are other automated chess boards available in the market they do not have the added tech or rollable functionality and are priced at roughly five times what a Square Off board will cost The board will debut at the CES 2021 technology trade show and will be available on sale from March 2021