Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

No shying away from testingA woman is reluctant to take off her ghunghat as she undergoes an antigen test at Kurla TerminusNoni Appa hits a halfcenturyThe play stars Jayati Bhatia Lillette Dubey and Gillian PintoIn the last six months Lillette Dubey has dabbled across mediums mdash from web series to short films Yet the thrill she gets from being on stage is unmatched So shersquos excited for the coming month as her production Salaam Noni Appa which crosses 50 shows will be staged at the Prithvi Theatre on April 15 and 16 The play based on Twinkle Khannarsquos short story features Dubey Jayati Bhatia Yateen Karyekar Rishi Khurana and Gillian Pinto Although the story is a comic romance centred on Noni Appa an elderly widow who finds herself falling in love with a younger man it offers an allegory for our times ldquoIt tells you that life never stops even if yoursquore 60 Thatrsquos the beauty of it mdash you can turn a corner and find the person of your dreams or your callingrdquo Dubey saidRing in choral calm for LentWith live performances coming to a halt the StopGaps Cultural Academy has been keeping choral lovers in the city busy with virtual concerts last month they put up a Valentinersquos Day showcase Now as Christians observe the season of Lent they will release a series of Lenten hymns from their archives every three days until Good Friday on April 2 The first of the series is a choral rendition of Our Father which was sung by them at The Sacred Heart Church in Vashi just before the lockdown was imposed in India ldquoPeople want to hear music during this time We also want to show people that we do a variety of concertsrdquo director Alfred J Drsquosouza shared Head to youtubecomthestopgaps to tune inMumbairsquos connect with DanteThis year marks the 700th death anniversary of Italian poet Dante Alighieri So the Italian Cultural Centre Mumbai ICCM and The Asiatic Society of Mumbai ASM are hosting a lecture by professor Andrea Mazzucchi today on ICCMrsquos YouTube channel Titled Speech Made Visible it dissects rare manuscripts including the one on Divine Comedy with ASM ldquoLegend has it that in 1940 Italian leader Benito Mussolini offered one million pounds for itrdquo Dr Shehernaz Nalwalla chairperson Mumbai Research Centre ASM sharedTheatre for allFrom March 26 to April 24 the META Festival will screen some of the best plays that have been part of the festival over the years Now in its 16th edition the festival will be held virtually Theatre buffs can also soak in discussions on subjects that the plays address as well as sign up for workshops and masterclasses Some of the plays that will be screened include Vijay Tendulkarrsquos A Friendrsquos Story directed by Akash Khurana one of the first modern Indian plays dealing with samesex attraction and Elephant in the Room in pic directed by Yuki Ellias that pays homage to Lord Ganapati in a quirky reinterpretation of his storyA whiff of Bombayrsquos art in BengaluruSaubiya Chasmawalarsquos Untitled 143 is part of the displayIn 2017 Araku Coffee opened a store in Paris and made quite the splash In 2018 the blend originating from Andhra Pradesh scripted history as the first Indian coffee blend to win the gold medal at Parisrsquos Prix Epicures Now it has opened its second outpost mdash a massive 6000 sq ft space mdash in Bengaluru Although itrsquos quite the trek for us Mumbaikars therersquos a touch of the city there tooAraku Coffee House in Bengaluru PicSaubiya Chasmawala TarqThe art display at the cafeacute comes from Colaba gallery TARQ Director Hena Kapadia told this diarist that the collaboration began when architect and a friend of the gallery Shonan Purie Trehan reached out to them with her concept of bringing art that matched the cafeacutersquos mission and ethos ldquoWe are currently exhibiting works by Apnavi Makanji Saubiya Chasmawala and Pratap Morey and are excited to continue to add on more artworks by different artists in the coming monthsrdquo she added