Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

No one to butter themTwo potsellers in Dharavi on Monday The arearsquos traditional potter community struggled to make any income this Janmashtami due to the pandemicWheel to winToday is the last day for children between ages nine and 16 to sign up as junior bicycle mayors for the cycling initiative Cycle Chala City Bacha ldquoIn Mumbai during the pandemic because there was a bicycle boom we managed to get 24 bicycle counsellors across wards in the city We will now have one junior bicycle mayor and 24 junior bicycle counsellors The junior mayor will have a similar role just like their senior counterparts including reaching out to schools societies etc One of our mandates is to get them to ask these places to donate old bicycles which we will then refurbish and provide to people in urbanpoor settlements like kids and dabbawalas who need it for commutingrdquo said bicycle mayor Firoza Suresh in picHe stamped his legacy for posterityThe stamp in orange that Roby DrsquoSilva designed for the 1955 competitionRoby DrsquoSilva was a famous product designer from Vasai who was sought after by top companies like Kellogs He passed away recently at the age of 91 and leaves behind a rich legacy of notable contributions to organisations including the United NationsHistorian and coin researcher Pascal Roque Lopes told this diarist that DrsquoSilva won the first prize at the All India Postal Stamp Design Competition held in Delhi in 1955 adding ldquoThe design was eventually put on a postage stamprdquoSo long thanks for all the musicThis diarist has had the incredibly good fortune of watching Lee Scratch Perry live in concert twice over The man whorsquos called The Godfather of Dub and High Priest of Reggae was 75 years old at the time but he still managed to bring the house down with his unique brand of Jamaican music Perry passed away over the weekend at the age of 85 and itrsquos an astounding fact that he was still lined up for shows this year The man was also instrumental in making Bob Marley a global superstar and helped propel the careers of numerous other artistes such as Max Romeo He was also a prolific creator churning out records with such dizzying regularity that his body of work is as big as his Mercurial status in the world of reggae and dub music ldquoHe was like the CEO of albums an artiste who just sat at his studio and belted out music He also conceived so many sounds that later became goto fodder for music producersrdquo shared Sumeet Thakur percussionist for indie band Sol Moon and a longstanding fan of PerryrsquosWhen dum is mastChef Asma Khan with actors Dan Levy centre and Paul Rudd PicTwitterThe debate over what is the best type of biryani in India often raises peoplersquos passions But as far as Hollywood actor Paul Rudd is concerned the Kolkatastyle dum biryani seems to top the list He was recently spotted digging into the dish at chef Asma Khanrsquos Darjeeling Express restaurant in London ldquoIrsquom glad that the unique dum biryani of Calcutta is sharing the limelight with the fabulousrdquo Khan shared adding a photo of hers with the actor We can imagine fans of the Lucknowi and Hyderabadi styles of biryani feeling somewhat jealousAre you proteinsmartIn the fight against climate change food insecurity and public health smart protein mdash that comprises meat egg and dairy alternatives produced without industrial animal agriculture through food science and biotechnology mdash is gaining ground And organised by Good Food Institute India GFI India the India Smart Protein Innovation Challenge 2021 aims to meet the protein needs of 10 billion people by 2050 onesixth of whom they claim will be Indian By providing infrastructural support mentorship and a smart protein digital lab the initiative will act as a platform for innovators to develop smart protein solutions Varun Deshpande managing director GFI India shared ldquoWe can no longer sit back and watch as planetary and public health crises rage We need all the great talent we can get to focus on these pressing problems and smart protein is one of our most promising solutionsrdquo Interested folk can apply at smartproteinchallengein by September 14