Mumbai Diary: Saturday scene

Bow wow, you have a date
It's that time of the year, when concerts and events sprout all over the landscape, shawls come out of storage, and people begin looking for next year's calendars.

A page from the calendar

Actually, some calendar companies are seen on the stands right after Diwali the old standby, Kalnirnay, is one of them. Others begin appearing around the middle of November, and stores like the iconic Chimanlal's are known for their offerings of beautiful calendars, which showcase works of art, among other things, and are often seen on living-room walls much like paintings are.

In addition, several organisations that work for a better world have calendars of their own, and when you buy them you're doing a bit of good as well as keeping track of your dates. For canine lovers there is the WSD Street Dogs Of India Calendar 2015.

The calendar is available at various outlets in Mumbai and is priced at Rs 150 each (this is for wall and desk calendars). The money goes as a donation towards WSD's sterilisation, immunisation and health care programmes for street dogs. For details, mail wsdindia@gmail.com or call 022-64222838. Put the wow into the bow, this year.

Giving trafficking the stick!
At a time when Pope Francis and 12 other world faith leaders undertook a mission to eradicate modern slavery by 2020 at the Vatican in Rome, condemning human trafficking as a crime against humanity, it was heartening to see a similar effort in Mumbai, albeit on a smaller (yet effective) scale.

Playing for a cause. Pic/Atul Kamble

Sports Mission, an anti-human trafficking initiative started by former Mumbai Customs hockey goalkeeper Anson Thomas, recently organised a women's exhibition hockey match between the Dhanraj Pillay Academy (Pune) and the city-based Western Railway at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd Stadium in Churchgate, to commemorate World Aids Day and stress on the growing dangers of human trafficking.

Thought-provoking banners across the stadium highlighting the issue of child trafficking, besides an anti-slavery campaign, were the highlights of the evening that also saw WR beat Dhanraj Pillay by 3-2 in a closely contested encounter.

Chairman of the Western India Football association referees body and All India Football Federation referees instructor Walter Pereira was the guest of honour, and gave the prizes to the enthusiastic girls, who aptly ended the day with a prominent ‘End Slavery India' message.

Going clean, the right way
Rather than just cleaning up, Malad's Inorbit Mall has come up with a campaign focusing on educating residents about methods to re-use and recycle, thus creating less waste. Tomorrow at 9am, the mall is holding a cleanliness drive in which mall staff, nearby residents, college students and corporates will participate.

Various teams will clean areas in the mall's vicinity, including side roads and back roads. The drive is is supported by Seva, an NGO working towards the re-use and recycling of waste, Health Saverz, Sorento Healthcare communications, Everything Goes Communications and the municipal corporation.

The mall will provide the brooms, garbage bags and other material needed by participants, while the NGO will conduct street plays and educate participants on how to segregate and treat garbage. It will also take the dry garbage collected during the drive, to process and recycle it at its plant in the city.

When everyone is crying themselves hoarse about the government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, we think it's time to look at the genesis of the problem - the millions of litterers who create the need for a cleanliness campaign!