15 October,2020 06:52 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
Youngsters turn Juhu beach into a cricket pitch on Wednesday. Pic/Atul Kamble
Actors Asmit Pathare, Santanu Ghatak and Shaun Williams in a pre-lockdown staging of the play The Bose Legacy
After theatre veteran Mahesh Dattani and his team at Playpen Performing Arts Trust accumulated a wealth of letters from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's family and came across the book The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence by Madhuri Bose, granddaughter of Sarat Chandra Bose, they realised that the ideas put forth by the freedom fighters were timeless. "The exchanges were primarily between Subhas Chandra and Sarat Chandra, and the latter's son, Amiya. From little things like which books to study, to secularism, and the vision of a free India, the thread that tied these ideas together was the fact that the senior Bose men knew their work had to be carried on by generations," shared Himali Kothari, co-writer of the play, The Bose Legacy, which is now being turned into a cine-play.
The group has launched an online fundraiser to execute the film-theatre project and ensure it reaches a wider audience, said director and co-writer Nikhil Katara. "In September, we played a small pre-recorded clip for an online audience, which included members of the Bose family, who were thrilled. That's when we were encouraged to make this into a cine-play," he said, adding that the funds will go towards production, rehearsal space, fees, etc. Log on to ketto.org to lend them a hand.
Food has been central to writer Mini Ribeiro's life, right from her childhood in a Punjabi family, living among Bengali neighbours in Kolkata to learning Goan cuisine from her mother-in-law in Mumbai. And her memories and experiences with these diverse cuisines from West Bengal and Goa have come together as a book, Magical Twists: East Meets West (Notion Press).
"Over the years, I have experimented with the two cuisines in my own way. All of that metamorphosed in the shape of the book that has my twists to Bengali and Goan recipes, such as kasundi prawns rissois, potol balchao, pithe puli vonn, sitabhog alle belle and dhokar caldin, apart from a few classic dishes I love," she said.
It is doubly inspiring to see young ones pave the way for change and 16-year-old Nazreen Naimullah Khan from Sai Baba Nagar is one of them. Khan, an adolescent volunteer for Apnalaya India has been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize 2020, which is awarded to young people for their contribution in promoting children's rights. Khan, who has been nominated in the health category, has been leading a team of 14 adolescents trained in life skills and sexual and reproductive health and rights programme under the NGO, shared CEO Arun Kumar. "We've always focused on working with the marginalised. From understanding personal rights and civic issues to teaching them to file PILs and dealing with the authorities, our focus is on training them to be leaders, responsible for their community's needs. And Nazreen has been a role model," he said.
The chirpy teenager told this diarist that she was very happy to have made her family proud. "I spread information about mahvari [menstruation], help dispel myths about it, and explain how to take care of oneself," she said, adding, "Although I would like to be an IPS officer, I want to focus on health."
Citizens associated with the Save Aarey movement have been a happy lot ever since the state government declared that 800 acres of the urban jungle would be a reserved forest, and then, announced the move to shift the Metro car-shed to Kanjurmarg. Graphic designer Vaibhav Adurkar, who is part of an online collective called Artistes for Aarey, has succinctly captured the power of the people-led movement to save the forest in a graphic. The Mahim-based designer, who has been associated with the cause for two years, said, "Aarey is the last green lung of our city. The bleeding tree is a reminder of the midnight felling that took place last year, and the axe signifies how the Save Aarey movement has grown stronger."
Started during the pandemic, Design United is an initiative created to showcase fresh approaches to design. It brings together emerging and talented practices from South East Asia to connect, collaborate and explore opportunities. This Saturday, they will host an online conversation with young, talented architects, Fauziya Evanindya of Studio FFFAAARRR from Jakarta, Rafeeh Abbasi of Manzil Studios from Karachi, and city-based Pranav Naik and Shweta Chhatpar of Studio Pomegranate (in pic). About the agenda for the event, Naik, whose studio has worked on important projects in the city including work on Lower Parel's Fergusson flyover, shared, "We are going to be talking about some of our projects and process, and the ideology behind them. We are presenting public, private, low-cost, and ecological projects."
Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.
Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news
