Mumbai Diary: Monday musings

Crowd control
India's left-arm spinner Axar Patel realised it was tough going at the iconic Siddhivinayak Temple in the city, on Saturday. The Gujarat cricketer, who is in Mumbai to play the Deodhar Trophy for West Zone, decided to club Deodhar with the divine but had to wait for a couple of hours to seek Lord Ganesh's blessings. "I did not expect so many people on Saturday," said Axar.

Good god: Axar Patel (l) at a one-day match in Hyderabad

A scribe who heard what Axar said, was quick to point out that the crowd could be because of the weekend. "I decided to stand in the queue but my two (West Zone) teammates, Rush Kalaria and Smit Patel decided to head to the hotel. It was quite crazy there," added Axar. Well, the Gujarat cricketer may be surprised but we know, yaahan Axar yeh hota hai.

Wall Call
A Dharavi based ashram gets a makeover with this painting on the outside of their building. Mumbai is seeing some awakening about street art. Recently, a couple of buildings in the city, both residential and public were part of a street art festival. It is a new concept that needs to be encouraged as it gives buildings character and a much needed face-lift.

For artists, Mumbai is their canvas, paint on. PIC/SAMEER MARKANDE

Gay in Gujarat
Kashish International Queer Film Festival, travelled to Baroda from Mumbai, with a bouquet of 12 films. The queer film fest screened the Best of Kashish as part of the Gujarat Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride festival on Saturday, November 29. Festival director, Sridhar Rangayan says, "We were keen to take forward the message of love and dignity for LGBT persons through films."

Together: Still from Out in the Dark, which is about love between two men, set against the Israel-Palestine conflict

Raise your eyebrows so that they recede into your hairline. The weekend saw Gujarat's third and Baroda's first LGBT pride festival. With the Baroda event, Gujarat has become the state to have maximum cities - three, organising prides, with West Bengal. "There was a time when people said, ‘you can never have prides in Gujarat', we've proved them wrong by doing three in a year," said Nakshatra Bagwe, one of the organisers. You can say that again, Nakshatra.