Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Jitish Kallat, Untitled (Eclipse) - 6, 2007-2008. Pic/Saffronart

This is a zara-hatke auction
On March 26, works by Raja Ravi Varma, Akbar Padamsee, Jitish Kallat and Atul Dodiya among others will be auctioned at a Prabhadevi venue. While Mumbai has seen paintings by these celebrated artists go under the hammer before, what's different about this auction by Saffronart is that it is the first time that the Income Tax Department has reached out to a professional auction house to conduct an art auction on their behalf.

"Following a selection process conducted by the Tax Recovery Officer, Central-3, Mumbai... we were appointed to conduct the sale," said Saffronart's CEO and co-founder Dinesh Vazirani.

A cartoonist in aid of another
If social media has its way of blocking content, ways of subverting the ban are to be found on the platform itself. We came across one such instance recently, when former Mid-day cartoonist Satish Acharya shared a toon by P Mahamud.

The latter, a well-known Kannada language cartoonist, had uploaded his work on Facebook, which was a comment on the current state of the Indian economy. Facebook, however, blocked Mahamud's account for posting a "sexually explicit" cartoon, Acharya said in his tweet, which ended up increasing its reach, with more than 1.6 lakh people having viewed the cartoon already.

"The IT cells of political parties often resort to mass or organised reporting. What I am worried about is the Facebook strategy, where, they block accounts without proper checks. In fact, they act first, and revoke bans later," Acharya told this diarist.

Docking history
As the city celebrates the opening of a new museum for its children and young adults, a little birdie that happens to find her way around labyrinthine libraries, dusty bookshelves, and archives, overheard a rather interesting tidbit that will add to the cheer. Every pucca Bombaywallah who has lived in the city for as long as they can recall, would have definitely known of at least one relative, friend or acquaintance - close or distant - who has served at Mazagon Dock Limited.

INS Sahyadri at Mazagaon Dock Limited in 2008

It was a matter of immense pride, and offered 'job security', as was the norm for the salaried class back in the day. The historic dock, with its rich legacy, is now in the process of expanding its existing exhibition space into a full-fledged heritage gallery that is expected to be ready by late April. From a small dry dock, built way back in 1774, to its modern-day avatar as the country's premier ship-builder, the landmark remains a silent, stoic watchdog that has witnessed the origin and growth of a city. We'll keep you updated on buzz as soon as the birdie returns with more news.

Uncle cool
We had recently written in these pages about how actor Jim Sarbh has appeared in a video for indie act Ape Echoes. That hadn't surprised us, since Sarbh had earlier made a similar appearance in Prateek Kuhad's video, too. But what has taken us aback is a video that Dubai-based musician Jasmin has released in collaboration with Benny Dayal. The track's called Chacha Dance, and the video stars Sanjeev Srivastava.

"Sanjeev who?" If that's the question on your lips, you might remember him as "Dancing Uncle", whose dance steps in a video shot at a wedding went viral. Here's hoping we see more of this groovy uncle.

One world cup, nine winners
Before cricketing nations of the world battle it in the 2019 World Cup that commences at the Oval on May 30, a first-of-its-kind Street Child Cricket World Cup will be hosted by another legendary venue in England. Scheduled to take place between April 30 and May 8 at the Lord's, the tournament has been organised by Street Child United, a UK-based organisation, which works towards supporting the life of children who face violence and abuse on street.

Two teams from India - former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is their brand ambassador - have been put together by non-profits, Save the Children, The HOPE Foundation, Magic Bus and Karunalaya, and will compete with teams from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the UK.

The teams are gender equal, comprising four girls and four boys each, and also include girls from Mumbai, who live in the slums of Mankhurd. We are certainly cheering for this Team India, too.

So what if tiger's here

These strays seem hardly bothered by Tiger Shroff's presence as the actor poses for shutterbugs at Goregaon's Film City. Pic/Satej Shinde

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