Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

And 23 years laterTwentythree years ago midday had wished its readers on Parsi New Year with a photograph of little twins Khushnazi and Khushnuma Gandhi greeting each other on the festival outside a fire temple at Princess Street In a quest to recreate the image we put out a call for the twins on this page on August 5 Loyal midday reader Mrs Kavarana and also the mother to the twins reached out Thus we were able to reshoot the now grownup twins in time for the festival ldquoThey were happy when I met themrdquo said Ashish Raje middayrsquos principal photographer who had also clicked the frame in 2000 ldquoTheir excitement reflected in the choice of attire for the shoot The apparel was of a similar print and shade to what they had worn as babies when I had first captured the imagerdquoAn illustration of freedomArtworks which are part of the infinity illustrationItrsquos the time of the year when posts about the Indian Tricolour dominate social media feeds Among the many we chanced upon an infinity illustration by writer and illustrator Ajinkya Bhasme inset The illustration started with a woman draped in a Tricolour saree and zoomed in on her bindi to show significant milestones that occurred before 1947 including the Quit India MovementThe timeline further covered the 2005 Mumbai floods the Odisha train disaster as well as Chandrayaan IIIrsquos recent launch among other memories that remain etched in most Indiansrsquo minds ldquoThese are some instances that moved me mdash both happy and sad They depict what wersquove experienced as a country and how despite all we have always come out stronger and unitedrdquo Bhasme told this diarist The images were zoomed in until we were back to the woman in the sari making it an endless loop Check bhasmewords to watch itAlso read Letrsquos play close attention to what our kids needThe idea of IndependenceRohit Chawlarsquos photographs will be displayed at the festivalBuilding on this idea a fiveday festival called the Independence Project launched in Ballard Estatersquos IFBE yesterday The festival which explores independence of onersquos beliefs from societal norms was opened by photographer Rohit Chawla and Bharatanatyam expert Navtej Johar ldquoWe take the term independence too seriously sometimes It also means the subtle fights for individuality we make dailyrdquo programme director Sarita Vijayan told us The films debates dance performances and art at the festival will explore the same themeSalaams to our martyrsDuring the awards ceremonyOn Independence Day yesterday Ekata Manch EM a charitable trust in association with Children Welfare Centre Law College in Malad honoured the family members of 15 Indian Army martyrs The awards ceremony was conducted with an intention to promote peace harmony and national integration and to highlight these jawansrsquo sacrificesAjay Kaul principal Children Welfare Centre High School and president Ekata ManchldquoAs citizens we owe a lot to the army so we decided that we should felicitate them every year This will motivate students and help educate the future generations about the contribution and sacrifice needed to protect a nationrdquo Ajay Kaul of EM told usExploring anthemic scalesRicky Kej conducts the orchestra Pic courtesySairam SagirajuIndependence Day feels incomplete unless you hear the strains of the National Anthem echoing from across the neighbourhood or your housing society Composer Ricky Kej shares that memory To pay tribute to the countryrsquos 77th year of Independence the multipleGrammy Awardwinner has teamed up with UKbased Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Londonrsquos famed Abbey Road Studios for a new iteration of Rabindranath Tagorersquos composition The piece also has a special meaning for the composer ldquoIt the anthem is the first piece of music that I learned to play on the keyboardrdquo Kej told this diarist over a phone call The composer pointed out that he had previously created a version as a tribute to the climate warriors in 2005 and another in a collaboration with 12 refugee singers living in India last year This time he chose to focus on the grand scale ldquoI have had an existing relationship with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra They are among my favourite orchestra and fit perfectly with the epic scale of the ideardquo he shared The team worked on the piece for three months with the 100piece orchestra utilising the dynamics of every instrument at the studios once immortalised by The Beatles ldquoIt took a lot of experimentation before we started but the recording itself took about 45 minutes Also the musicians are amazing You have to give them only the sheetsrdquo the composer explained