Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Booked for this rideA books vendor shows off his towering collection at a traffic signal in Goregaon EastArt to save turtlesThrough his art Sudarshan Shaw a Bhubaneswarbased artist celebrates the turtle community in Odisharsquos Ganjam district mdash the mouth of the river Rukshikulya is one of the worldrsquos largest nesting sites for Olive Ridley turtles ldquoCertain members of the local community under the leadership of Bipro Behera a generational conservationist work towards protecting these turtles from poaching and other harmful activities They supplement their earnings with odd jobs and have been hard hit by the pandemic which has affected their connectivity with the main marketsrdquo he told us Shaw is selling prints from his collection Turtles and the Sea to help raise funds for their benefit To contribute visit sudarshan_shaw on InstagramGiving root to an ideaThe students have devised a prototype to conduct hydroponics farming using plastic bottles Sudharma KambhamettuAround the world nearly a million plastic bottles are purchased every minute suggests research and the number is likely to jump another 20 per cent by 2021 Amid this increasing use of plastic 10 management students from the Karjatbased Universal Business School UBS have initiated Project Roop which aims to upcycle used plastic bottles through hydroponics a soilless method of planting The project is aimed at reducing the number of plastic bottles ending up at our dumpyards In the initial phase the students conducted cleanliness drives in Mumbai and Chennai and the plastic bottles collected were sent for recycling shared Sudharma Kambhamettu student president of ENACTUS UBS The revenue from the same was used to develop the prototype for hydroponics ldquoIn the earlier stages of the pandemic we were trying to focus on plastic recycling but it isnrsquot costeffective We came across the concept of plastic upcycling for which we have taken the path of hydroponic farming using plastic bottles Itrsquos both costeffective and can be used as home decorrdquo Kambhamettu addedShots chuckles and all the funNot that we should need any extra encouragement but Kharbased cultural venue The Habitat has started an initiative called Got Jabbed Get Laughs allowing visitors whorsquove got at least one shot free entry to their live comedy shows at 2 pm on weekdays Owner Balraj Ghai said that theyrsquove been running the concept for the past few weeks ldquoWe get a lineup of seven to eight comics Wersquore trying to tell people that if they can go out to restaurants they might as well come to ours where they also get food for thought with a side of happiness The idea was to encourage people to get vaccinated and reward them for doing sordquo he added Thatrsquos a winwinKeep this cause alivePantherrsquos Paw Publication an independent publishing house dedicated to producing literature by Dalit and Bahujan authors is looking for seed funding to continue their operations After suffering many setbacks during the pandemic the publication has proposed this drive to sustain the organisation for the next three years The publication has churned out several significant literary works since its inception in 2016 with the aim of promoting literature from these communities ldquoIf we take a cursory glance at the publishing industry we rarely find a DalitBahujan publisher in the English language We focus on writers and stories that promote democratic values such as equality and liberty which is why the publication has to be sustainedrdquo shared publisher Yogesh Maitreya To pitch in visit pantherspawpublication on InstagramEverything riceKishwar Chowdhury PicInstagramIn a moment of pride for the global Bengali community the humble panta bhaat or leftover fermented rice made it to the grand repertoire of fivestar dishes on MasterChef Australia 2021 when Bangladeshiorigin chef Kishwar Chowdhury served it as her final dish In doing so mdash Chowdhury rechristened the staple as smoked rice water serving it with alu bhorta mashed potatoes and machh bhaja fish fry mdash she not only paid homage to her culinary heritage but also the dishrsquos powerful history of feeding those who canrsquot afford any better Although she ended up as the second runnerup Chowdhuryrsquos final presentation was a note of inspiration for desi home chefs everywhere mdash ghar ka khana can be finedine fare too