The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Atul Kamble
No birds in hand
Amidst the debated ban on feeding pigeons in the city, a boy chases an elusive pigeon at Bandra Talao Kabutarkhana
We can hip-hop
Chembur-based rappers at a previous pan-Mumbai hip-hop showcase. Pic courtesy/Angad Lokhande
You probably wouldn’t bet on Chembur as the next hip-hop hotspot in Mumbai. Colour us surprised, because a first-of-its-kind rappers’ meet is set to take over the suburb’s streets on August 9. “We are a nearly 30-member strong community. There was a time when the community was buzzing with interest, but unfortunately many of our artistes shelved their passion for hip-hop to chase steady office jobs. This is a revival of sorts in that sense,” member Angad Lokhande told us. To learn more about the ambitious group.
The pleasure’s ours, Mulund
The hoarding featuring mid-day’s report dated August 5 is placed outside the East exit of Mulund railway station. PIC COURTESY/RAJENDRA B AKLEKAR
Call it a small world, mid-day’s deputy city editor Rajendra B Aklekar bumped into himself on his morning walk in Mulund on Wednesday. Following Aklekar’s detailed report in this newspaper on local residents’ visit to the BMC Headquarters to fast-track the completion of an East-West Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Mulund railway station, the report popped up on a hoarding at the East exit of the station. “I was strolling past the area when I saw the citizens’ token of appreciation,” Aklekar said. Residents had earlier thanked mid-day after Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar promptly ordered the release of funds for the bridge that is being built by Central Railway’s Mumbai division and the BMC. This bit of happy news comes as the cherry on top of the 19 impact stories mid-day reported in the month of July. In other words, like we’ve always said: if it’s in Mumbai, it’s in mid-day.
In green company
Shmes Ansari with the visitors in Mahim. PICS COURTESY/SHMES ANSARI
A tourist group comprising Italian, English and Ghanaian nature enthusiasts was caught red handed at Maharashtra Nature Park in Mahim last Sunday. “We were rubbing teak leaves to see how they release red dyeing agents,” said Shmes Ansari, a city-based naturalist who answered the call of duty when the group sought his help in understanding the flora and fauna of the park. “It was a complete coincidence. I happened to be at the park when I crossed paths with the group who was visiting as an exchange programme. I gladly showed them around the sprawling park, with a focus on the trees and the snakes that peep out in the monsoon. One of them was so intrigued that he wished to send his son who is studying ecology on a field trip to Mumbai. We’d love to see that. There’s enough in Mumbai’s woods for everyone,” Ansari told this diarist.
Kutch kaleidoscope
The audience gathered at the Nehru Centre Library on August 2 was witness to a story that traversed two decades. The talk, centred on Dr Mariam Dossal’s book, Flowers of the Sun: The People and Land of Kutch c.1740 to 2020, was the result of two decades of research into the people, culture, food and influences of the Kutch civilisation. “It began when I first visited Kutch in the 1990s with my aunt looking for details about my great grandfather, a Khoja merchant from Kera,” Dr Dossal shared.
Dr Dossal
In 2002, she truly began work on the research project about the region to highlight ‘the composite and syncretic nature of the region, and India’, she said. Arati Desai, librarian and documentation officer, Nehru Centre LIbrary, added, “The library has evolved as a public library in the true sense of the word, and the talk on the book was part of our outreach to help take the book to readers. Our aim is to encourage people to participate in more such works that are out of the box.”
Music mastery
Sonja Greiner (left), secretary general of ECA, with Ria Master. PIC COURTESY/RIA MASTER
Marine Lines-based early childhood music educator Ria Master is humming a happy tune this month. Master recently became the first Indian participant in the YOUNG programme by the International Federation for Choral Music and the European Choral Association in Munich, Germany. On the back of praise from her mentors and peers she told this diarist, “It was wonderful to be one of the eight selected candidates. I learnt a great deal about choral management through hands-on training. I’m looking forward to putting it into practice.”
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