The great leveller

Itrsquos that time of the year again The week before the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon when the city gears up for what has become what is truly one of the few democratic and inclusive events of late No special VIP passes required no exclusive enclosures for special invitees and mercifully no cars on the road for one blissful morning And who better than Rahul Bose actor director national sports star philanthropist and avid marathon runner and fitness freak to capture the excitement of the event ldquoFor me the Mumbai marathon is the most beautiful day in Mumbairsquos year It is the one day where everybody if only for a few hours is equal The street is the great leveller Some of us run barefoot some of us in Nike shoes but all of us run together Even if you watch you are the same No AC boxes no unshaded cement seats Rahul Bose PicFarrokh Chothia Everybody has a front row seat for free I have never felt as much love in my life as I have felt on the streets of Mumbai during the marathon People call out to you by name and for a second we all share the same pride of being part of a heaving chaotic megalopolis that we all love and owe everything tordquo We like The write stuff When we spoke to author journalist Namita Devidayal about attending an event coming up this week she informed us that it falls on her lsquowriting day in Alibaugrsquo Intrigued we asked for more details After all there is a long and glorious tradition of authors getting away from the maddening crowd to peruse their muse ldquoIrsquove marked out two days a week ndash Tuesdays and Thursdays to go to my gorgeous retreat in Alibaugrdquo said the noted writer whose first book The Music Room on Dhondutai Kulkarni the legendary singer of the JaipurAtrauli Gharana received high praise ldquoThe day job is TOI and my 11yearold My Alibaug home is a minimalist courtyard house with a lotus pond in its centre Itrsquos perfect because this book is a contemplative musical journey inward and external traveloguerdquo Nice North by north south It was a party that brought together the beautiful people of North and South Mumbai Hosted by Natasha Poonawalla to bring in the birthdays of her husband Adar and best friend Kajal Anand the lsquosmall get togetherrsquo turned out to be a 150200 guests or more spectacular bash at the couplersquos sprawling Breach Candy bungalow And of course given that Kajal Anand and Adar Poonawalla both gregarious and popular in their own right have many sets of friends the party saw the likes of Bollywood star wives Gauri Khan Kajalrsquos BFF Suzanne Roshan and Bhavna Pandey meet and mingle with denizens of SoBo like Jeh Wadia Tania Dubash and Avanti and Yash Birla Wersquore all for cross sealink pollination Designs on you For someone who avoids shopping like the plague finds all kinds of excuses to avoid it and aspires to be free from the entire business of retail the fact that an announcement of a sale has whetted our appetite must mean that there are some things even we canrsquot resist Stationery is one suchu00a0We feel faint when we enter stationery shops the sight of Lamy and Moleskin note books and Mont Blanc writing accessories makes us weak in the knees Ditto for exquisitely designed industrial products like Droog from Amsterdam Anything from Japan Haniboi from London Bookman cycle lighting system from Sweden unit portables systems of bags and pouches from Copenhagen industrial playground visual furniture designed by Ajay Shah and Rubberband files and folders And so when we were informed that all these and more are available at Everyday Projectsrsquo first sale between January 1827 at Mahalaxmi we reminded ourselves to put it down in our diary But wait What diary We never got around to buying one thanks to our aversion for shopping Oh wellhellipu00a0 Dog day afternoons In the past we have been asked to judge essay writing contests music contests beauty pageants and even most awkwardly of all Mr Universe All these have been painful exercises and we find ourselves cringing under the demand of declaring winners and losers How to break so many hearts and destroy so many hopes Guardian Minister for the island city Jayant Patil poses with Farzana Contractor Which is why when the redoubtable Farzana Behram Contractor the spirit behind lsquoDog ArsquoFairrsquo the annual doggie carnival held at the Radio Club asked us to be a judge at the doggy pageant we declinedThe thought of facing hangdog looks from so many losing dogs was not for the fainthearted But regardless of our doggone cowardice we hear that the pageant and the carnival was a barking success ldquoThere was much tail wagging and happy bowwows that resounded in the charming and cheerful atmosphere dotted with red and blue tents and yellow sun umbrellas even as the sail boats and speed boats bobbed on the Arabian Sea on the waters skirting the Radio Club at Colaba the venue for the eventrdquo said Contractor publisher of Dogs and More ldquoGuardian Minister of the city of Bombay Jayant Patil and son Pratik inaugurated the carnival and were totally stumpedrdquo she said adding ldquoHe stayed on for over an hour strolling leisurely taking in the breeze and all the doggie info coming his wayhellip accompanied by Buster his chocolate brown Labrdquo she saidu00a0