Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Riding on exhaustionOur collective experience of fighting through another lockdown is best reflected in this riderrsquos mini break at Mahalaxmi racecourse on TuesdayDonrsquot fear the serpentFor those afraid of snakes herersquos an avenue that might help curb your fear and acquaint you with the species The Bombay Natural History Society BNHS has launched a twoday certificate course in Snake Taxonomy to be held this weekend Eminent scientist and researcher Varad B Giri who will be conducting it will explain how to scientifically identify and understand different snake species ldquoSnakes are a highly neglected species Therersquos a lot of hatred towards them mostly because of lack of knowledge Through our citizen science initiative we want to help people identify and understand why these species are important so with the knowledge of identification they can rectify their fearsrdquo Giri informed Interested folk can email cecmumbaibnhsorg to registerSo long SubhadraThis week writer Subhadra Sen Gupta succumbed to Covid19 leaving a void in childrenrsquos literature in India The Delhibased Sahitya Akademiaward winner specialised in historical fiction mdash enlightening young minds with stories set in the Mughal and Mauryan era among other significant periods in Indian history Tributes poured in on social media Shuddhabrata Sengupta the writerrsquos cousin and member of Raqs Media Collective wrote ldquoI learnt how to look for clues like a detective from her and how to cherish and share a good storyrdquoAmong her many accolades Sen Gupta won the Big Little Book Award BLBA last year Commenting on her legacy Swaha Sahoo inset head of Tata Trustsrsquo Parag Initiative that has instituted BLBA told this diarist ldquoWe have lost a magician who brought history alive for generations of children When she was awarded the BLBA in 2020 we were hoping to work together to create more books for children and translate her existing work into many Indian languages We are deeply saddened by her passing We hope to share her books and her work in other languages so that she lives on through their magic and touches many more lives for years to comerdquoArt that healsWhile the pandemic causes distress across the country nine women photographers have come together to help those in need Prints of Hope is their way of raising money through selling prints on eight_thirty on instagram to generate funds for organisations battling the virus on the ground Artists presenting their works include Adira Thekkuveettil Divya Cowasji Kirthana Devdas Menty Jamir Mithila Jariwala Pavithra Ramanujam Riti Sengupta Vinita Baretto and Zahra Amiruddin insetldquoWe came together initially to make a zine but with the pandemic decided to start a fundraiser We have identified organisations that are involved in different kinds of work and are not in the social media circle We are dividing funds between three of themrdquo shared Amiruddin photographer from the collective Relief work funds are directed towards the NGOs Athrout Khalsa Aid and PremankurSaved by the bookIn what can be called a first of sorts publisher HarperCollins Childrenrsquos Books have launched their I Can Read subscription programme in India The plan is being offered in threemonth sixmonth and annual packs to parents and educators across the country based on each childrsquos reading level in collaboration with the independent childrenrsquos bookstore Kool Skool Aimed at beginner readers the programme features a range of titles by awardwinning authors and illustrators including Else Holmelund Minarik Syd Hoff and Jack Prelutsky About its significance publisher Tina Narang said ldquoA subscription model is particularly relevant for the unique times we are in owing to the pandemic when both parents and educators are seeking out reading material for their homebound childrenrdquoCity with glitterOn May 20 and 21 premier auction house AstaGuru will host an online auction of heirloom jewellery silver and timepieces With 120 lots it features a wide selection ranging from traditional Indian masterpieces to jewellery from the Art Deco period Whatrsquos also interesting is that therersquos a Bombay connection too mdash on offer are pieces by the cityrsquos erstwhile bullion merchants Manilal Chimanlal amp Co Featuring coveted gemstones Jay Sagar AstaGurursquos jewellery specialist reckoned that the pieces ldquowould make for a worthy inclusion in any important collectionrdquo About the timepieces the auction housersquos timepiece expert Deepak Krishnamoorthy added ldquoThe catalogue features an exceptionally wellresearched collection of 48 lots that have been selected to appeal to the buyersrsquo diverse choicesrdquo