Food, culture and festive fashion: Here’s a weekly roundup of Mid-day Online’s top features

This week, we have an interesting mix of food, fashion and culture. Photo Courtesy: Mid-day file pic/istock

The festive season is here and as the city already started its celebrations with Raksha Bandhan, the preparations for Janmashtami, Parsi New Year and Ganesh Chaturthi are underway. It will also be the first time in two years that many people will go outdoors to celebrate the festival with friends and family. If you are looking to ace your fashion game and even need help with makeup tips, don't worry. We spoke to experts who share the best way to get your look right for the festive season. There is more because you can get the look right but makeup only elevates the spirit, so experts share a guide to look your best for all those events you are going to attend in time to come.

Along with the festive spirit, the monsoon is here to stay and brings with it all kinds of freshness and colour with different kinds of fruits and vegetables that are popular during this time. We decided to celebrate the bitter gourd, a vegetable that is evergreen but often disliked among many people because of its bitter taste and texture. City chefs who love the vegetable make your life easy as they share innovative recipes that would make people rethink their opinion about the gourd.

We also spoke to members of the Warli tribe living in Aarey Colony and who call Mumbai their home, for International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. They tell us about living in a city that boasts about being cosmopolitan and keeping their identity intact, while also dealing with misconceptions and the hope they have from newly-elected President Droupadi Murmu.

As far as international day celebrations go, this week also had World Elephant Day, which was founded in 2012 with an aim to raise awareness about the animal and the need for its conservation. We reached out to Patricia Sims, co-founder of the day and World Elephant Society. She not only delved into the current issues plaguing the efforts but also shared tips for people to contribute in the best possible way.

Last but not the least, for Shelf Life, our fortnightly, we travelled to the Colaba Study Centre and Worli's Abhyas Galli to learn how these spaces are giving a space to students from the economically weaker sections to study.

Here's the full list of features from this week:

Do you hate bitter gourd? Mumbai chefs will make you fall in love with these yummy recipes
Bitter gourd isn't probably anybody's favourite but we may just change that for you. City chefs who love the vegetable produce familiar yet innovative flavours for you to take a second chance with the gourd

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International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples: ‘People don't know there are many Adivasis in Mumbai'
Every year, the world celebrates indigenous people, or more commonly called Adivasis in India, on August 9. Mumbai has a rich history of tribes living in the jungles but unfortunately not many people know about them. Two Warli tribals tell us about retaining their identity in Mumbai and dealing with misconceptions

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Festive wear: Experts share tips on sporting a simple yet stylish ethnic look
From Independence Day to Ganesh Chaturthi, August is full of festivities calling for some grooming sessions. If you are opting for something simple, elegant yet stylish this year, here are some useful tips for a fuss-free fresh look

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Beauty tips: How to achieve a minimal makeup look for this festive season
From Raksha Bandhan to Ganesh Chaturthi, August is full of festivities calling for some beauty sessions. If you are someone who do not mind dolling up a bit for occasions, then here's a minimal makeup guide for a fresh, dewy look this festive season

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Elephant Day 2022: ‘As policies improve, human-elephant conflict worsens'
India boasts of close to 30,000 tuskers but even as there are efforts being made to conserve them, man-elephant conflict seems to be a cause for concern. Mid-day Online spoke to Patricia Sims, founder of World Elephant Society, to understand how conservation has changed in the last 10 years since she first instituted the day for elephants

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World Elephant Day 2022: Why you should care for elephants and here's how you can protect them
Elephants are loved by many but how many of us take the effort to take an initiative to conserve them? Canadian filmmaker and elephant conservationist Patricia Sims, who is the co-founder of World Elephant Day, suggests easy ways to help protect the endangered species - not only at the tourism level but also to prevent human-elephant conflict

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Make room for the young: Here's how study spaces in Colaba and Worli are helping students
'Shelf Life' is a fortnightly series that explores the reading culture in Mumbai. This week Mid-Day visits Worli's Abhyas Galli and Colaba Study Centre to see how a metropolitan city that's starved of space is making room for the youth from economically weaker sections to study and engage

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Also Read: Independence Day: Sindhi Mumbaikars recount stories they grew up with about the Partition