The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
Living on a prayer
With places of worship shut in the city, a woman seeks divine blessings from outside the closed gate of a temple in Wadala on Ram Navami.
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Mangrove magic
Artwork that Nayan Shrimali and Vaishali Chudasama contributed for the initiative
Ministry of Mumbai’s Magic, a platform to unite citizens in protecting the city’s green spaces, had recently launched an initiative called #MakeArtForMumbaisMangroves as part of its Biodiversity by the Bay festival, where they called upon citizens to contribute artworks that highlight the importance of Mumbai’s wetlands. A series of these pieces — by artists including Afrah Shafiq and Michelle Poonawalla — will be launched today to mark Earth Day. “Our ambition is to invigorate a sense of collective ownership among citizens at large to unite to protect these biodiversity hotspots,” shared Arpita Bhagat of Ministry of Mumbai’s Magic.
Art despatch from Alleppey
Keen followers of the Kochi Biennale in the city, here’s some interesting news. At the ongoing Lokame Tharavadu exhibition, artist Anpu Varkey’s 45-metre long hand-painted mural can be spotted on the compound walls of the William Goodacre and Sons factory in Alleppey. “Alleppey is known for its coir industry. I was keen on bringing up the aspect of the lives of people there. The image depicts two hands in a tug of war. It’s a reflection of the labour of the people there that is best symbolised by hands,” Varkey told this diarist.
Sounds from Oz
Scores of Mumbaikars (this diarist being one of them) along with global fans tuned in last afternoon to watch award-winning band Tame Impala led by musician Kevin Parker perform their seminal debut album Innerspeaker from start to finish, as a way of celebrating the album’s 10-year anniversary. Online tickets to the gig ($10 a pop), which was live-streamed from Wave House — the legendary studio located four hours from the band’s hometown of Perth, and perched on the Indian Ocean — is where Parker recorded the album a decade ago. The band brought their album to life and gave viewers a front-seat ticket to their performance against the backdrop of a deep pink and purple sky. This was definitely a memorable afternoon for all those stuck at home due to the pandemic and bore resemblance to this time last year when streaming gigs online became a common phenomenon for artistes worldwide.
A quarantine tune for kids
From Chennai-based musicians, Manikandan Chembai and KiAM, comes an anthem for children stuck in quarantine. Quarantin-u, released earlier this month, is a Tamil track that attempts to capture the shenanigans of children bound at home. “The song was written by artist KiAM and I’ve put together the production part of it. It’s more of a folk song since that would be more relatable to local audiences as well, and since we reference things like Spiderman and Hulk in the lyrics, we’ve added some electronic elements to it as well. The lyrics are jovial and childish, and that’s the beauty of it,” Chembai (in pic) told this diarist. “We decided to get two kids to sing a lot of the vocals to retain the innocence of the song. It didn’t have to be pitch-perfect; it needed to have that element of fun. The kids’ presence made the track perfect,” he added. You can check it out on spotify.in
Answering the call for help
On January 23 this year, this newspaper had written about Gita Karade, a 14-year-old girl from Latur whose parents were left without any source of income as farm labourers due to the pandemic. Gita had then taken it upon herself to borrow a phone from an NGO worker to learn a new skill to help her family out, and started watching YouTube videos on stitching items such as scarves and doormats, selling them for about '150. But now, she has her own smartphone to conduct her business, thanks to Nakshatra Reddy — actors Sushama, Meghna and Sameera Reddy’s mother — who donated the gadget to her, moved by the article published in this paper by Special Investigations Editor Vinod Kumar Menon. “I feel that what I have done is just a drop in the ocean. But I am happy to be that drop,” she told this diarist. Thank you, Mrs Reddy, for being a Mid-day supporter. It gives our newsroom no greater joy than to know we’ve influenced change.
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