Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Taking the plungeYoungsters take a dip in the sea at Colaba Bunder to beat the heatA slice of supportVinod Jadhav outside St Xavierrsquos College Pic courtesyDaniel MarshEarlier this week Meher Marfatiarsquos column in Sunday midday revisited street vendors in the city who are left grappling with the pandemicled economic devastation Among them wasJai Ganesh Sandwich Stall tucked by the second entrance of St Xavierrsquos College for over three decades On learning of their beloved sandwichwalarsquos plight the collegersquos alumni have begun spreading the word about chipping in financially to support the stall On the other hand owners Vinod Jadhav and Prakash More are now open to accepting bulk orders for their delicacies including the Malhar special inspired by the collegersquos iconic cultural fest and Pasta noodle sandwich ldquoWersquoll accept a minimum order of 20 pieces and can cater to South Mumbai A dayrsquos notice would helprdquo Jadhav said Those interested can reach out at 8691974500Sundays are for museum talesPaintings sculptures and artefacts at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya CSMVS are going to come alive in stories of the past thanks to an engaging series of online sessions curated by the Mumbai Storytellers Society in collaboration with the Childrenrsquos Museum at CSMVS For instance in the first session of Stories on Sunday that took place last week society founder Usha Venkatraman dove into the world of gods and demons through paintings at the museum ldquoWe have been on a mission to revive oral traditions and this series is aimed at looking at the museum from home virtuallyrdquo Venkatraman told this diarist about the workshops for kids ldquoThe idea is to look at the paintings sculptures and other artefacts and then tell the stories Next Sunday wersquoll look at Chinese paintings then after that soak in some Roman and Greek mythology travel to Japan and then come back to Nepal and Indiardquo she shared The virtual sessions on every Sunday till May 30 will also include handson activities to get children interested in the exhibits Interested folk can look for more details on the social media handles of the Mumbai Storytellers Society and register at eventscsmvsinOn a positive noteGrim doesnrsquot even begin to describe the current situation in India Itrsquos a reality that Manasi Prasad museum director Indian Music Experience Museum in Bengaluru is aware of ldquoWhile we canrsquot run away from reality we also need some outlet to calm our minds As a musician I know that when Irsquom singing mdash even if itrsquos just as simple as chanting Om or singing a raga my mind is only focused on that and not on the external worldrdquo explains Prasad about what prompted her and her team to start the virtual Saturday series Online Chain of Positivity The sessions led by the museumrsquos faculty members will witness spiritual and uplifting music ldquoEvery week we do a combination of chanting learning a song from one of the Bhakti poets and generally just experiencing music togetherrdquo Want to tune in Head to indianmusicexperience on Instagram to registerTheatrewallahs meet your friendsPerformance venues shutting in the city has once again affected the bustling theatre community many of whom have been struggling to meet basic needs Theatre Dost is an initiative started by a few theatrewallahs to provide basic prescribed COVID19 medicines and financial support for doctorrsquos fees and meals as well as act as a reliable resource centre for humanitarian aid including ration essentials and teleconsultation with doctors among other needs Studio Tamaasha cofounder Sapan Saran who initiated it shared ldquoThere was a growing helplessness among us with all thatrsquos happening around The needs were very clear So we decided to build resources among our small community which is quite unorganised and unprotectedrdquo To pitch in or seek aid email them at theatredostgmailcomGiving art wings to fly onlineSince making a shift into the virtual world the Serendipity Arts Foundation SAF created Serendipity Arts Virtual in 2020 to explore opportunities in the digital sphere In continuation of that initiative SAF has announced a grant to two collectives groups or duos with a funding of up to R1 lakh per project ldquoWe started the Serendipity Arts Virtual in 2020 to explore the opportunities offered by the digital space and since then we have been constantly reimagining the space and the projects that can be experienced through the digital formats The grant furthers our quest to find such projects that are well attributed to the virtual spacerdquo Smriti Rajgharia director of SAF explained