Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Erica Wiebe with teammate with Rahul Aware. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Mumbai's dash of Olympic flavour
World wrestling champion Erica Wiebe was in Mumbai recently, and despite being on a rather long flight from Canada, showed no signs of jet lag at a press conference she attended just a few hours after landing. Wiebe, who is now in the capital, is spearheading her team Mumbai Maharathi's campaign in the second edition of the Pro Wrestling League, which began yesterday.

The confident Rio Olympics gold medallist appeared at the Mumbai Press Club, amidst a barrage of flashbulbs, and said she was proud to represent the Mumbai Maharathi (Canadian accent intact). Interestingly, she admitted that wrestling is not a marquee sport in Canada. "I used to train in a basement at my home in Calgary," said the 75-kg, 5 ft 9-inch wrestler from the land of the maple leaf. In a few days, the city will welcome another world-class athlete.

True to tradition, the Mumbai marathon ambassador will be a renowned name and possibly an Olympian too. The organisers are not revealing the name yet, but given that the race is to be run on January 15, this visitor should be packing his or her bags for Mumbai soon.

Milind Deora tells it like it should be
At a time when politicians in the Samajwadi Party are washing each other's dirty linen in public, Milind Deora - who became a Member of Parliament at 27 - said what most politicians fail to apply in their profession.

Milind Deora

The 40-year-old urged the leaders to tone down the level of bitterness in the New Year and concentrate on better governance. "Here's hoping 2017 is the year that politicians everywhere pop a chill pill, dial down the acrimony a few notches & govern!" he tweeted.

Though he didn't name anybody in particular, the tweet hints at the ongoing feud between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. The trouble started on Friday when the veteran had expelled Akhilesh for refusing to accept the candidates he chose for the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Biker chic

Pic/Rane Ashish

Actress Sonali Kulkarni began her new year zipping through the city on her bike. Mid-day spotted the biker woman on Carter Road.

Meet the YouTube millionaires
YouTube India recently put out its list of "Million-aires" (channels on the platform with a million or more subscribers) and what a list it is! Among those who feature on it are Mumbai-based band Sanam, and digital entertainment network The Viral Fever, better known as TVF (in pic). Also popular was Being Indian, a channel about - you guessed it - all things Indian.

The culinary world wasn't to be left behind, with celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Nisha Madhulika, a homemaker from Noida who has made it big with her fun recipes on YouTube. New Delhi-based Bhuvan Bam, who is an actor, musician and Youtuber at BB Ki Vines, has also made the cut.

The wonder baby
It seems child artiste, Arsheen Namdar, who plays the character of Avni in Mahesh Bhatt's television show Naamkarann never ceases to amaze the filmmaker with her talent. At the launch of the serial, Bhatt had mentioned that Namdar's acting had reminded him of daughter Alia's performance in the film, Udta Punjab.

He recently posted this picture with the caption, ‘In the arms of wonder.' He then went on to call the child actor magical. Well, with the not-so-encouraging, intermittent rumours about the show, at least something's going right.

French fame for Kalki
While Kalki Koechlin has been featured in Indian fashion magazines countless times, the year end was rather special for the actress, as she made it to the French edition of a popular fashion magazine.

The interview dwelled on Koechlin's multicultural upbringing - she was born to French parents, who came to India and settled in Pondicherry, as they were devotees of Sri Aurobindo.

It was particularly interesting when the actress spoke about how she grew up in a free atmosphere, and that she spoke French at home, Tamil on the streets of Pondicherry and English at school. The language skills perhaps sowed the seeds of an articulate actress.