Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

No kidding!
Actor Vivek Oberoi seems gobsmacked at the launch of a talent show for children at a five-star in Santacruz on Tuesday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

With a little help from a friend
One of the most heart-warming, and hilarious, Instagram accounts we have come across recently is the one that actor Gaurav Gera has created for his home help, Rajeshwari Kounder. Titled Mrs Rajeshwari, it contains videos of Kounder up to all sorts of funny antics. For example, one of them has the duo having a mock tiff about cleaning the house set to the tune of Wannabe by Spice Girls.

Then there's a bunch where Kounder recites nonsensical shayari, such as, "Naa jeene ki arzoo naa marne ka khauff, the number you are dialing is currently switched off." Or, "Jaan naa pehchaan tu mera mehmaan, and the award goes to AR Rahman." Gera tells us that the account follows earlier videos featuring his help that he had uploaded on YouTube. He says, "What happened was that last year I had cracked a deal with a company. And I offered them some of those earlier videos. But I was told, 'No, we want a better face.' And I felt that a person's face shouldn't be the main criteria, and was sure that I could make her do things that could appeal to people. So, that was the purpose behind this account." And appeal to people it has, going by the fact that she has racked up 13,000 followers in no time at all. Now that's what we call a job well done.

Such a long historic journey
It was a rainy day as Queen Victoria's Jubilee Day was celebrated on June 20, 1887 in Bombay. And one of the newly built and important public buildings in the city, the Bombay Passenger Terminus - designed by legendary architect Frederick William Stevens - was renamed as Victoria Terminus, exactly 130 years ago. The name remained popular for the iconic station as VT for generations to come, till it was renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, or CST, in 1996.

A standing statue of the queen that was located on the building was also removed in the 1960s. The only reference to the station as Victoria Terminus that still remains today is on the central porch at the main entrance of the building (inset), and another small plaque on one of the platforms.

A royal ramp walk
The youth have always defined trends in every era; it's just that we now have the word "millennials" to overuse. The fashion industry, in particular, has been obsessed with the generation, with countless editorials and collections inspired by the age group. And fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has now been featuring young royals and "influencers" from across the world for the past few seasons with the hashtag #DGMillennials. For their recent Spring Summer '19 show at Milan Men's Fashion Week, the couture giant had the dapper Indian prince Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur walk the ramp. The prince, who is currently studying in New York, also featured in the 30 under 30 Asia list of a leading business magazine this year, in another's feature on young royals, and waltzed with Ava Phillippe (daughter of actor Reese Witherspoon) at Le Ball in Paris last year. We'll be watching to see if there are more ramp moments from this royal.

Trumped out
The recent global outrage against the Trump administration's policy to separate children from their parents at the southern border has come for scathing attack from diverse sections of American society. And there was no better benchmark to gauge its unpopularity than to read an op-ed that former First Lady Laura Bush, wife of former Republican President George W Bush, penned for the Washington Post. She even tweeted about it citing the zero-tolerance policy as cruel, immoral, and that it broke her heart. She found support from another former First Lady, Michelle Obama, who replied: "Sometimes truth transcends party." And guess who was one of the first to retweet these posts? Trump-baiter and bestselling author JK Rowling. Now that's what we call crossing every kind of border to speak up against injustice.

An uncommon language
The Consulate General of Brazil in Mumbai in collaboration with The Department of Ancient Indian Culture, History and Archaeology, St Xavier's College, is starting a course in Brazilian Portuguese. It will be conducted by Everson Mayer Simoes, Deputy Consul General of Brazil in Mumbai. And if like us, you are wondering whether the announcement has anything to do with the ongoing soccer mania of which the Latin American nation is an inseparable part, the college organisers tell us that is just a coincidence. As part of its collaboration with the consulate general, the department has always had a Brazilian film week. This time, though, the idea was to focus on the linguistic nuances of the culture.

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