The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Shadab Khan
Ride over the waves
A woman poses for a photograph, while seated atop a magenta-coloured jet ski shaped like a car, at Juhu beach
When 60,000 meat pies went unsold
The opening Test of the 2025-26 Ashes series was over and done within two days. Yes, the cricket was exciting at the Perth Stadium, but spare a thought for the spectators who had paid for all five days. Disappointment they would be no matter which country they belong to. Our in-house cricket nut came up with another early finish to an Ashes Test — the Melbourne game of the 1954-55 Ashes.
The late Frank Tyson, who also coached fast bowlers in Mumbai in the early 1990s. Pic/Getty Images
No, it was not all over by Day Two like Perth the other day, but in the first session of Day Five. The fans were not happy. England pace terror, the late Frank Tyson, a friend of this newspaper, bundled out Australia for 111 with figures of 7-27. The hosts began the day on 75-2, needing another 165 for victory but ‘Typhoon’ Tyson had other plans.
Tyson, who later made Australia his home, encountered several fans who were at that Melbourne Test. They would come and say to him, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, “You b**t*rd Tyson… you bowled them all out and we had to eat our lunch at the Fitzroy Gardens (near the ground). Tyson also revealed that 60,000 meat pies went unsold that day (January 5, 1955). That’s a big loss, and so was England’s at Perth.
Archives and canvases
The world of Amfy B N Jose X Frogman, Digital, 2025, by George Mathen (Appupen)
Kochi’s historic Jewish quarter is about to be transformed, with the 200-year-old Kashi Hallegua House — a preserved cultural landmark — set to host the project, Ishara House. The project’s inaugural group exhibition, Amphibian Aesthetics, runs from December 13, 2025 to March 31, 2026, presented by Ishara Art Foundation and Aazhi Archives.
Kashi Hallegua House. Pics courtesy/Aazhi Archives; Ishara Art Foundation
The show gathers 12 artists from four countries, including India, to unpack urgent global identities and societies, through the lens of migration, memory, and maritime history, rooted in the location’s own past as a key trading hub.
Artistic director, Riyas Komu, who studied at the Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, shared, “Amphibian Aesthetics is an attempt to contemplate upon new space-times in art, and research collaboratively [so as to] survive our fluid futures.”
Fort Kochi calling
A view of the new gallery, located in Mattancherry, Kochi. Pic courtesy/Muziris Contemporary Art Gallery
Colaba art gallery Muziris Contemporary is preparing to open a second, more permanent space to showcase art in Fort Kochi. Its founder Joe Cyril confirmed to this diarist, “The gallery will be serving as a more permanent place for the artworks, as art and artists in Kochi are often overlooked. It will showcase curated pieces from well-known names including Senaka Senanayake and Kamala Das, among others. Personally for me, it is the joy of home-coming.”
For the love of reading
The boys’ reading room will be used for girls now. Pic courtesy/Gully Classes Foundation
A Mumbai-based non-profit organisation, Gully Classes Foundation, will begin an initiative to empower young girls from underprivileged households, in Basni Belima Village, in the Nagaur district of Rajasthan. A new library and reading room will be opened for female students, while male students will be shifted to a new space, this diarist was informed by founder-director Abdul Munaf.
“The reading room is a space for community resources, part of an old government school. We will inaugurate it in early December,” Munaf revealed. He added that plans are afloat to open a similar space in Ghatkopar, where the organisation is based.
Clowning around with magic
Monica Santos performs her act with a child at Harkat Studios. Pics courtesy/Harkat Studios; Monica Santos
It was a spirited Sunday morning for the young audience at a Versova venue. They had the chance to witness a friendly clown in performance, delivering a myriad of emotions, gift-wrapped in humour. Organised by boutique arts studio, Harkat Studios, the magic show saw the clown win hearts of both children and their parents. Monica Santos (right), a city-based performer of Spanish origin, shared her experiences and outlook towards the show with this diarist.
“My show is titled, Gilli Gilli Choo. I’ve performed it perhaps a 100 times by now, but each time there’s something different based on my audience. At Harkat, parents were accompanying their children, and hence, I decided to include them in the act as well: I used elements such as clapping, jumping, and directly interacting with children, giving them some control over the direction of the show,” Santos described. She added, “I regularly perform for ailing children in BJ Wadia Hospital, Parel. I want to show that humour is powerful and therapeutic.”
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