Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

A toast to the men of her life
It was International Men's Day on Saturday (yes, there is such a thing), and while the rest of the glitterati were busy grooving to the Coldplay concert in the city, actress Renuka Shahane chose to celebrate the ‘fantastic' men in her life. She tweeted this adorable picture of husband Ashutosh Rana with sons Shouryaman and Satyendra, saying, "...Appreciate your love and respect and deeply grateful to be blessed with you." Now, that's one happy family.

Adieu, old note
While pictures of purses printed with the new currency note designs are already floating on social media, this basket of wallets caught our fancy at Bandra (E) station over the weekend. Looking like wads of cash, these wallets with the old 500-rupee note design may soon go out of production, too.

But going by the number of people who stopped to take a second look at the wallets, we felt they would make for some quirky memorabilia. The 20-something hawker selling these, however, didn't seem too hopeful. "I am waiting for the new ones to arrive," he told us. Genuine or plastic, the beautiful yellow-green notes are already passe.

Yawn before the storm?
Ananya Birla was snapped by mid-day backstage before her gig at the Global Citizen Concert.

Pic/Sameer Markande

She was one of the many acts in the star-studded concert headlined by Brit cult band Coldplay that was held at MMRDA grounds over the weekend.

A book for winged beauties
With about 1800 stunning images of over a thousand species and sub-species of butterflies captured by 230 photographers, a massive tome from the Bombay Natural History Society was released over the weekend. Butterflies of India can rightly be called Isaac Kehimkar's magnum opus.

Bittu Sahgal (in black) with Isaac Kehimkar. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Deputy director of Natural History at BNHS, Kehimkar has dedicated 30 years of his life to these winged beauties and is often called the Butterflyman of India. The chief guest for the evening was author and conservationist, Bittu Sahgal, who considers Dr Salim Ali his guru.

Bonding over karma
Do you believe that you have a debt to repay to plants, animals and those who have helped you along the way? Is Mukti or Moksha an ambition for you? These are just a couple of questions in a Spiritual IQ test that Rajvardhan Sinha, Joint Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, attempted at the launch of Karma Korner in Bandra.

Rajvardhan Sinha (left) with Le Sutra director Radha Bajaj at the launch. Pic/Sameer Markande

The reason: like we had told you a few days back, the book store housed in Le Sutra has 50 titles and offers them by prescription. He was also presented with 50 copies of the Hindi edition of Karma Sutra to be distributed to prisoners in jails across Maharashtra.

Its Marathi versions will reach him soon. He also potted a plant and bonded with the guests bonded over amla and tulsi concoctions, as a flautist played soul-soothing melodies in the background.

Taking stock
When we heard that a popular kiddie role-play themed play area had just announced a mock stock exchange we couldn't help but smile about the timing, what with the scramble for cash that has gripped the nation. Recently, the theme park tied up with a corporate giant to launch this addition where children can learn about investments, mutual funds and savings.

As part of the play, kids will get to choose from being a fund manager or an investor. As a fund manager, they will get to create funds for the investors. Once the activity is done they will be asked to come back to check their fund's performances. An investor will create a portfolio and invest in asset classes that differ according to age group.

Finally, participants are requested to return to check their portfolio's performances. Well, the good ol' days, where the only money kids knew was the one on the monopoly board, seem to be all gone!