Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Bus itne hi allowed hainThe conductor of a BEST bus refuses to let a passenger enter at Kandivali since all seats are full and new rules bar people from standing in the aisleAn open and shut caseThe night curfew and weekend lockdowns have meant that the restaurant industry is back to square one after seeing a glimmer of hope when eateries were allowed to function again during the pandemic And National Restaurant Association of India president Anurag Katriar is so fed up of the constant Uturns that the state government is taking that he put up a post asking the authorities to either allow eateries to function as normal following safety protocols or shut down the industry completely He reasoned ldquoIf I am shut down at least I am cutting down on my operational expenses What is the point of staying open if I struggle to pay even for gas and airconditioning You canrsquot handicap me and then ask me to run Also when other activities that take part in largely uncontrolled environments including film shoots and construction work are being allowed I fail to understand why we canrsquot do the same when we operate within a completely controlled environmentrdquoTo the fourSunil Shanbag centre watches a performance at Studio Tamasha staged last monthAndheribased theatre space Studio Tamasha celebrated its fourth anniversary last weekend at a time when the theatre industry has been thrown into turmoil once again after the government ordered performance spaces to be shut down Founder Sunil Shanbag told this diarist that they had premiered a new play at their Lokhandwala location just last weekend but are now back to square one ldquoItrsquos like the whole cycle starting againrdquo he told this diarist adding ldquoWe still decided to mark the anniversary to remind ourselves that we need strength to carry onrdquo Herersquos wishing them many more successful years going aheadTwice as goodTheatre initiative Readings in a Shed has entered a collaboration with the UKrsquos Directorrsquos Cut Theatre Company as part of which the two groups will create a new short script together which they will later bring to life as a short film or online performance Asia Europe Foundation ASEF an organisation that aims to bring the two continents closer through art will fund the projectThree creators from the UK including Heather Ward in pic below artistic director of Directorrsquos Cut will put their brains together with sound engineer Varun Gupta writer Himali Kothari and Nikhil Katara above artistic director of Readings in a Shed Katara told this diarist that he had approached ASEF with the idea of developing a piece thatrsquos themed on physical distance ldquoWe will build a performative script over the next 20 days and the final product will have original music that Varun will createrdquo Katara shared adding that while ASEF would organise a lot of physical collaborations earlier their efforts are now concentrated on the digital mediumMasks made for mangrovesMasks will remain a fixture of our lives for a while going by how the pandemic shows no signs of ending And Swastik Gawade a project assistant with the Mangrove Foundation of Maharashtra has now come up with a variant that raises awareness about the need to save mangroves He has created different sets with varying designs featuring flamingoes tortoises and other animals that thrive in mangroves Gawade told this diarist that he draws the artwork himself with fabric paint ldquoI source the pure cotton material from Surat and the price range is between 100 and 150rdquo he shared Log on torebellious_artist on Instagram to place your ordersSound helpDerek Julien is a veteran guitarist from Mumbai who is one of the leading lights of the cityrsquos independent music scene But he was dealt a blow when he contracted COVID19 recently Hersquos admitted in the ICU and wellwishers have started a fundraiser to help with his medical expenses ldquoI was really young when he was in his prime but I have always heard about how good he isrdquo shared events organiser Neil V Banks whose Facebook handle you can log on to to lend a helping hand