Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Aye, kya Bolti tu?
John Abraham tries getting Diana Penty's attention outside a Bandra studio on Saturday. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

Tejal Shah

London diaries for Tejal Shah
Goa-based artist Tejal Shah will be exhibiting her works in London next month, at Mimosa House, in the heart of Mayfair. She will be showing a selection of her new works on paper alongside her five-channel video installation, Between The Waves, that the artist created back in 2012. Titled As It Is, this new show is anchored on queer, Buddhist and feminist thought.

In fact, the name itself, says the artist, is inspired from a collection of teachings by renowned Buddhist scholar Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. "The title of the show sounds matter-of-fact, but there's more to it. In Buddhist non-dualist parlance, reality is often referred to as, 'as it is'," she says. As part of the tour, Shah has also invited two Danish artists for a 10-day art residency. Shah says, "We want to explore the narratives of queer and post-queer resistance and human and more-than-human relationships. What happens when we look at questions relating to climate and ecological transition through the figure of the [queer] drag?"

N Ram

When the media is ­under attack
Senior journalist N Ram has used his pen to strike right and hard. Now, we hear that the former editor-in-chief of The Hindu and Frontline magazine is writing a new book, Why India Needs A Free Press (Aleph Book Company). The soon-to-release title, sources say, is laced with interesting insights drawn from Ram's own experiences, as well as from interactions with prominent players in the industry.

Among other things, the veteran will be examining the assaults on the media, the disquieting trend of big business houses buying a controlling interest in major media organisations and the purveying of fake and paid news.

Neysa Sanghavi

A prestigious letter from Greece
Neysa Sanghavi, a 17-year-old from Mumbai, who was named Rwanda's brand ambassador by the African country's high commission last year, has added yet another feather to her cap. She recently received the Kurth Hahn Commendation from His Majesty King Constantine of Greece for her work in the field of HIV study in Mumbai and towards genocide refugees in Rwanda. "It was my teacher who nominated me for the award after seeing my work in the field of community service," she says. The Kurt Hahn Prize is awarded in recognition of an exceptional act of service to others. While this year the award went to a Canadian girl, Sanghavi received a certificate. "It is no less encouraging," she smiles.

Wisden takes note of mid-day's story on Aryan
Look what happened to cricket-crazy teenager Aryan D'Souza, whose Thane-based family had to relocate to Dubai because of the 'torture' they faced after one of Anil's shots damaged the windshield wiper of a car in his building society. He ended up being mentioned in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Aryan was playing with his friends at Unnati Garden in Thane on June 9 last year when his stroke hit a windshield wiper in the compound. This didn't go down well with certain members of the society.

The latest edition of cricket's bible has a mention (in the Chronicle of 2017 chapter) of the story on the D'Souza family written by mid-day reporter Gaurav Sarkar, who then quoted Aryan's father Anil as saying, "We couldn't face the harassment and torture anymore. We have taken the school leaving certificates of both the children and are now here in the UAE."

We wish Aryan well and hope he is playing enough shots to attract the attention of talent scouts in the UAE whose cricketing stocks are on the rise. By the way, Dubai is where the International Cricket Council is headquartered. Meanwhile, Aryan's dad must get hold of a copy of Wisden 2018 for posterity.

Mark Bennington

Daddy calling
There's some good news, and more. New York photographer and actor Mark Bennington has moved lock, stock and barrel to Mumbai. And, while we are hoping to see more of him on the screen and behind, Bennington, who last year published Living the Dream (HarperCollins India) - a compilation of 113 photo essays of actors from the city's entertainment industry - is currently busy on the home front. Bennington and wife Taapsi Ramchandani are going to be parents. From one look at his social media timeline, we can already
sense that Bennington is all geared up to play daddy. Here's wishing the couple, the very best.

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