Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Designer Payal Singhal (standing, in blue) training the women at the sewing centre in Undti, Gujarat

Shop for a cause
This is one association fans of designer Payal Singhal will be proud of. Singhal, who is known for her contemporary Indian prints, has collaborated with The Desai Foundation from the US to support their vocational sewing programme that will empower women from the villages of Gujarat. Part of the proceeds of their worldwide sales from these prints will be donated to The Desai Foundation. The line, which will feature two of her signature prints, will include overnight bags, totes and makeup bags, among others. The collection, along with men's accessories, the kids' wear line, stationary and Indian-occasion wear, will be on sale at a trunk show at a Lower Parel five-star this Wednesday.

Veer Savarkar

Decoding Savarkar
Veer Savarkar is one of those people that you can love or hate, but can't ignore. And the life and times of the controversial Hindutva ideologue will be laid bare in Dr Vikram Sampath's two-volume biography that Penguin Random House India will publish. It will involve questions that give an insight into Savarkar's psyche. What led the Hindu Mahasabha, which he headed, to oppose the Quit India Movement? What were the points of divergence between him and the RSS? And - possibly the most important of them all - was he the brain behind Mahatma Gandhi's assassination? Wait till 2019 and 2020 to find out, since that's when the two volumes will be published.

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Talk to the hand
Actor and team owner Abhishek Bachchan seems miffed at a kabaddi match in NSCI, Worli, as Sikander Kher (third from left, front row) looks on.

Pic/Getty Images

Good times for rock fans
Fans of rock music have lucked out this year. NH7 Weekender just announced its line-up for 2017 and one of the biggest names on the list is American guitarist Steve Vai for the Meghalaya concert. Other names that would please fans are punk rock icon Marky Ramone, and metal bands Textures and The Dillinger Escape Plan (both in Pune). Both the bands are playing their final tours and Textures is playing their last show ever in Pune. Other interesting names we are excited about on the list include The Raghu Dixit Project, The Ram Sampath Experience, Prateek Kuhad, Indian Ocean, Swet Shop Boys and, for his first performance ever, director-musician Vishal Bharadwaj.

Will this bar live up to the hype?

Time for wine
Hardly a day goes by without hearing of a restaurant opening in Lower Parel. Adding to the list are two exciting announcements that we spotted on a visit to High Street Phoenix. The first is the second city outpost of Zorawar Kalra's Farzi Café, next to a fast food chain in the courtyard. The owners, however, haven't fixed an opening date yet. The second opening proudly claimed to be the city's biggest wine bar. While the name is still under wraps, the doors will open in two months, we are told.

Artists Nishant Sudhakaran and Madhvi Khaitan Pittie

Sculpting God from scrap
From chocolates to pencils, we've heard of various innovative materials being used to create Bappa idols. The latest to join the list is an installation created with spare parts of automobiles thrown away as scrap. A joint effort by artists Madhvi Khaitan Pittie and Nishant Sudhakaran to encourage the idea of recycling, the six-foot tall idol features over 900kg of car parts like clutch plates, flat and shaft gears and chains.

The duo have also created Ganpati's vehicle, a rat, using nuts and bolts with a wrought-iron tail. Sudhakaran shared that the biggest challenge was bending the parts to get the details of the anatomy. If you're keen for a glimpse, it's on view at a Goregaon mall.