Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Sounds from the desi dhaba
If you're bored of pop numbers that sound all the same, check out the Soundcloud account of Girls at Dhabas, a feminist collective in Pakistan that is reclaiming public spaces for women. As part of their work, they occasionally upload playlists of tracks made by and for South Asian women. "The music... is a testament to female longing and desire as documented by South Asian music of all genres - indie, fusion, classical, electronic - and symbolic of a larger conversation led by female musicians from Nepal, Pakistan and India," reads a post explaining the reason behind the curation. That's music to our ears.

Choosing 70
Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala has been preoccupied the last few months planning a mega exhibition, India Re-worlded - Seventy Years of Investigating a Nation. She shut her gallery, Lakereen, earlier this year, and, in the role of the nomadic curator is set to open this exhibition at Gallery Odyssey in Lower Parel on September 9.

Sudhir Patwardhan's 1996-Elegy for the City, 2017

Lokhandwala tells this diarist that the exhibition will have a total of 70 works, out of which 40 are going to be new works, specially commissioned for the occasion. For the show, Lokhandwala has asked artists to choose a year each from the last 70 years, since India won its Independence.

Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala

Each artist has chosen a year for their own reasons, perhaps their birth year, perhaps a significant political event. Among these artists are Archana Hande, Shilpa Gupta, RAQSâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Media Collective, Susanta Mandal and Shakuntala Kulkarni. We were specially taken up by Sudhir Patwardhan's 1996-Elegy for the City and are eager to see the show come together.

Tara, moms and entrepreneurs
We have seen her discuss pertinent family and parenting issues with well-known personalities including Virat Kohli, Aamir Khan, John Abraham, Dia Mirza, and Farah Khan on her eponymous show.

Tara Sharma

Recently, actor-presenter Tara Sharma Saluja joined hands with mompreneurs as part of an offline event for her show, where she was seen discussing the issues that mothers like her face. "To be honest, I am not very comfortable with the term mompreneur. After all, we don't call men dadpreneurs," said a panelist. Well, that's some food for thought.

Pic/Atul Kamble

Back to the grind
Designer Masaba Gupta (in black) seems lost in thought during a fitting session at a Lower Parel five star, ahead of an upcoming fashion week.

Champion cops
They may be busy as ever keeping the city safe, but Mumbai's cops also manage to squeeze some time to make the country proud.

Recently, Soniya Hanumant Mokal, a member of the Mumbai Police, represented India in the World Police Games held at Los Angeles, USA, and won a gold medal in the 800 metres race, clocking 00:02:19.800 minutes. More good news? She wasn't the lone Indian on the podium; Haryana's Santosh Kumari finished second. You go, girls!

Visitors capture the Temporal Twist installation by Sheba Chhachhi

Looking back at the wound of Partition
With the jubilation of freedom, India was also inflicted with the wound of Partition that continues to fester 70 years later. Part Narratives, an exhibition that looks back on the tragic event, was inaugurated over the weekend at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum. Curated by Gayatri Sinha, it features artworks by Sheba Chhachhi, Anita Dube, Atul Bhalla and Susanta Mandal.

Gayatri Sinha catches up with Anita Dube at the opening. Pics/Bipin Kokate

For their creations, the artists draw upon their memories and understanding of Partition, with a sense of lament for the lives lost running through each artwork. The exhibition draws on three main timelines of art produced around the event: art as testimonial, which comprises the artists' eye witness accounts of the event, art as residue in the decades of the 60s to the 80s, and a contemporary perspective on the event, which invites reflection and understanding even seven decades later. The exhibition is on view till September 19.