Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Hand it to him
A fan reaches out to shake AR Rahman's hand at the launch of the latter's authorised biography, at a five-star in Bandra over the weekend. Pic/Shadab Khan

So bad it's good
We don't quite know if this qualifies as a birthday gift. But a person who claims to be "Asia's number 1 pencil sketch artist" on his social media profile made this sketch of Shah Rukh Khan that falls into the so-awful-that-it's-good category. He dedicated it to the megastar on his 53rd birthday. And a scan of his profile reveals equally jaw-dropping sketches of Amitabh Bachchan, Arvind Kejriwal and others, which have invited unfiltered disdain in the comments section. But is this artist having a laugh at our expense. Honestly, we can't tell.

Rana Ayyub accepts her certificate

Courage wins the day
In a time when the role of the media is often castigated, with words like "presstitutes" being bandied about willy-nilly, it's important to recognise reporting that is fearless and without bias. And that's exactly what Switzerland-based organisation, Free Press Unlimited, sets out to do every year with its Most Resilient Journalist Award.

Rana Ayyub

Nominations are invited from across the globe from journalists who have been jailed, censored or been obstructed in any way in their line of duty. And the winner of this year's edition is Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, who travelled to The Hague recently to receive the honour, which includes a cool cash prize of 15,000 Euros.

It's better to be safe than sorry
The number of road accidents keep mounting every year for a variety of reasons. And with Diwali around the corner, an NGO called Safe Kids Foundation has taken it upon itself to spread the importance of drivers following safety rules. And the way they have decided they will impart this message is through rangolis that they will make at strategic locations across the city, keeping in line with the spirit of Diwali. So five different points in Dadar, Tilak Nagar, Kurla, Ghatkopar and Fort now have special rangolis that relay how necessary it is to not drink and drive, wear helmets on two-wheelers and stick to speed limits. Such initiatives are always welcome, and sometimes, we need to turn to children to think about them.

Kiran Nagarkar

Look who's Seth to win an award
"It wasn't his intimate reading of the abuse, it was his playground." A tweet we came across was enough to sum up writer Kiran Nagarkar's work in the same line. We thought then, that the #MeToo allegations would be anything but a fleeting memory. But the shortlist for the book of the year, announced by the Tata Literature Live, says otherwise.

Suhel Seth

Jasoda, a book by Nagarkar, who has been accused of sexual harassment, has made it to the list and the decision was condemned by journalist Sandhya Menon on Twitter. But the very fact that the literature festival is led by the same organisation that ended all contact with their former brand consultant Suhel Seth, accused of sexual harassment by six women, has left us wondering.

Nadine Levy Redzepi

A tasty podcast
Pooja Dhingra's podcast, No Sugar Coat, which released this September has a star-studded cast featuring luminaries from the F&B industry including Gary Mehigan, Prateek Sadhu, Thomas Zacharias, and Kelvin Cheung. But for its ninth episode, out today, Dhingra managed to rope in chef Nadine Levy Redzepi (above), who is married to René Redzepi of the reputable Copenhagen-based restaurant Noma, which is currently ranked the best in the world.

Pooja Dhingra

While Redzepi's name has been rolling off the tongues of most chefs who are vying for the golden prize in a cascading farm-to-fork race, Dhingra tells us Levy herself is a force to reckon with, too. Speaking about her experience interviewing the Danish chef, Dhingra told this diarist, "I truly enjoyed interviewing her. She's warm, funny, charismatic and full of great stories. We spoke about her childhood, how she met René and her new cookbook."

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