Mumbai Diary: Friday frolics

Psst...
At a recent mega social media event in the city, this diarist heard adman Piyush Pandey tell a friend that he was currently busy writing a book on the history of advertising in India. Pandey, however, did not wish to divulge details of the book, expected to hit the stands in October.

My word Piyush Pandey's book promises to be a page-turner

Yet, we'd recommend leaving space on your shelf for this one. After all, who better than Pandey, who has been with Ogilvy & Mather, one of India's biggest advertising firms since 1982 and is now its executive chairman and creative director, to chronicle this journey?

Pickled issues
Corruption. Taxes. Freedom. Respect for women. The list is endless. And we are running out of places to express ourselves. T-shirts do the trick, at times.

Two-year-old brand, Bhashan is back with a new set of styles that scream ‘Change'. The foodie that we are, this one on Bhrashtachar caught the eye. Tuck in.

Hey, a peahen in South Mumbai!
Buzzing, bustling Opera House had a surprise visitor yesterday. A peahen was spotted at Parekh Estate Building, near the Opera House junction. Resident Jeetendra Ghadge stated that he saw the bird in his building vicinity yesterday afternoon. Said Ghadge, RTI activist, "I spotted this bird last afternoon, and was very surprised.

Just curious. The peahen at Opera House yesterday. Pic courtesy/Jeetendra Ghadge

Excited actually, I immediately threw some peanuts down to the floor of the building and it went down there and ate them." In Mumbai, conjecture flies faster than a Japanese Shinkansen (bullet train) and a lot of people in the area are now saying, "That the peahen was first spotted at the Shamrao Vithal Co-op Bank in Grant Road, and has now come here," stated Ghadge.

When we spoke last, Ghadge said that the bird was now on the roof of the building, "but it needs to be rescued as a cat may pounce on it. I am excited but fearful it may be eaten too, imagine a peahen in South Mumbai. I can understand if it is spotted in Borivali because of the forest close by, but Opera House… it truly is something," he stated. Peahen at Parekh building eating peanuts. Ah, the alliteration... We like it.

Thought convergence
When talks are arranged about technology, and how to make use of it, often, the speakers are in their twenties. Yet, when Henry Jenkins speaks everyone, even your neighbourhood teenage hacker, stops to listen.

WHEN THE GURU SPEAKS Henry Jenkins at a meet organised by Sophia College yesterday. PIC/BIPIN KOKATE

Fifty-seven-year-old Jenkins, hailed as the guru of convergence is the Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, is currently in Mumbai as a guest at the Godrej India Culture Lab in Vikhroli.

On Thursday, he made a stopover to speak to educators in Mumbai about net neutrality, what happens when new and old media collide, the migratory behaviour of media audiences craving for entertainment at a meet organised at Sophia College.

Among those who attend the session were author Jerry Pinto, journalist Anuradha Sengupta and filmmaker Faiza Khan. Pinto, who is also a faculty at the campus, had this to say: "Professor Jenkins is one of the few people of his generation who is comfortable with the change in technology and how we disseminate information.

The general lament of the older generation is usually about how the good old days are gone and how the young are getting it wrong. He speaks about accepting the change. Now, let's talk about what we can do with it."