Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Going strong at 45
In 1972, JK Kapur, who grew up near the North West Frontier Province, decided to launch a restaurant in Mumbai that would celebrate cuisines from Peshawar to Delhi and offer everything from Chelo Kebabs to Rogan Josh and dum biryani. That iconic restaurant is Copper Chimney in Worli, which is going strong even today.

It even had a glitzy launch, with legendary actors Waheeda Rehman and Dilip Kumar gracing the do, due to the gentleman's strong Bollywood connection. The restaurant chain - run by the third generation with its footprints in Indian metros and soon-to-open outlets in Dubai and Kuwait - is celebrating 45 years. And it is set to reopen its long-standing Kala Ghoda outlet (which shut early this year) next week.

Carrying the legacy forward, the menu of the revamped space features an array of new starters, eight-hour-marinated grills and cocktails, besides the signature tandoori fare that it is known for. "We have worked towards bringing in contemporary flare to appeal to the younger audience," shared brand director Shikha Nath.

When doctors play moral cops
Have you ever visited a gynaec and wondered if it was their place to ask you questions bordering on, if not blatantly, intruding your personal space? Genderlog India, a crowd-sourced hub on gender, invited Why Loiter, an initiative that engages with concerns related to women and public space, to curate its social media for a week.

With the hashtag ObGynTales, users revealed their experiences - being asked if they were married to be prescribed OCPs, being warned about their ticking biological clocks to incidents where women in labour are slapped by midwives if they groan in pain. Women just don't have it easy in India.

Hoop's that guy?
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh tries his hand at a game of netball at a charity event at Cooperage yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Think on a commode
Next week, the auditorium at Kala Ghoda's Jehangir Art Gallery will be covered by a massive, 15-feet installation of the Indian commode made in bronze, inviting guests to use it as a space to engage in a conversation. This installation is part of artist Akhilesh Kumar's latest solo titled Sochalay, which runs from October 17 to 23.

Dilip Kumar flanked JK Kapur (right) and Prem Chaddha, who was a big part of the restaurant's conceptualisation, at its launch in Worli in 1972

"I see the toilet as a place for generation of thoughts and introspection, especially in a crowded city like Mumbai, with hardly any space to reflect peacefully," shared the artist from a collective titled Team Po10tial. He took a couple of years to create this intriguing artwork.

The darker shades of Grey
The twisted mind of Christian Grey had captivated audiences when 50 Shades of Grey hit the stands in 2015. No other book was the subject of as much controversy that year, making EL James, the author, an overnight sensation.

Pic/Getty Images

Now, James has delved deeper into Grey's character, giving us an insight into the male protagonist's side of the story with Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian (Penguin Random House), the latest instalment in the series.

"The inside of Christian's head is a pretty daunting place to be," James says, adding, "Writing Darker offered me new insights into his character and motivations." You can soon pick up a copy to find out what those motivations are, but do be warned if your nature can be described with the word 'sanskari'.

Mural of the story
The monsoon seems in no mood to exit the city and the walls of Mumbai's buildings are already wearing a battered look. But not if you happen to be in Nagrana Lane or Waroda Road in Bandra West.

A three-storey cottage in the neighbourhood, which houses the office of HaikuJAM, a mobile app and events platform where people write short poems together, is the latest addition to Bandra's murals.

Created by Pune-based collective Bade Moochwale, the walls have been splashed in bright shades of yellow, ochre and orange, and feature three-line poems in Hindi and English contributed by the app's users.