Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

The great escape

Emraan Hashmi emerges victorious from an escape room in Lower Parel as part of the promotions for his upcoming web series. Pic/Shadab Khan

Rural shades from India

Pastoral Senility, Parag Borse's pastel work that depicts a slice of rural Maharashtra, is the only Indian artwork to make it to the ongoing 47th international art show by the Pastel Society of America in New York.

The oldest such society in America, it was founded by Flora B Giffuni in 1972. The work occupies a place of pride among paintings by artists from across Europe, China, Taipei and New Zealand.

Hailing from Karjat, Borse has also been honoured by the Pastel Society of West Coast of America in California.

Ballet on the ramp

At the recently concluded India Kids Fashion Week in Mumbai, things unfolded pretty much the way they do in the world of adults, what with ramp walks and showstoppers. But it was the young ballerinas from the city-based Indian Academy of Russian Ballet (IARB) who stole the show.

The academy had been roped in as the dance partner for the event, where 15 ballerinas, in the age group of five to 29, opened for eight of the 12 participating labels. "Each performance was conceptualised to be different from the other. So we had ballerinas in white tutus with pink wings, and in tutus lined with LED lights do a garland waltz, tambourine act, and a Swan Lake for the finale," IARB founder Apeksha Bhattacharyya told this diarist.

Of course, there was a cuteness overload and every celeb guest including Bhagyashree, Kishwer Merchant and Tanaaz Irani couldn't help but get photographed with the little dancers.

NJ to Mumbai

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US is what's been making the headlines, Mumbai recently had an American dignitary on its soil too. Banker and the First Lady (wife of Governor, Phil Murphy) of New Jersey Tammy Murphy was on an official visit to India, or western India in particular.

Tammy Murphy (extreme right) interacts with the children

Apart from visiting the Sabarmati Ashram and IIT Gandhinagar, Murphy along with a team visited Magic Bus's Vikhroli Livelihood Centre. The NGO's field of work, focussed on helping children and the youth to overcome poverty, was something Murphy was particularly interested in. In her interaction with the young minds, she spoke about livelihood education, gender equality and other social issues.

Nothing short of literary

The winners for one of the most popular awards in the publishing industry, the Publishing Next Awards, were announced over the weekend, with categories ranging from Book Cover of the Year to Printed Book of the Year. Some Mumbaikars made the cut, too.

Darbari, designed by Pinaki De, won the book cover of the year

While city-based Deepa Balsavar's Nani's Walk to the Park was declared the Printed Children's Book of the Year (ages 0-8), Nandana Dev Sen's In My Heart was the runner up. In the Indian language category, photographer Pradeep Chandra's MF Husain: A Pictorial Tribute (Niyogi Books) was declared the winner. One of the most important awards - Publisher of the Year - saw Duckbill Books as the winner. Our congratulations.

Loss, and a lot of love

Barely a year after he wrote the heart-tugging modern-day fairytale about friendship, The Rabbit and the Squirrel, we have news that Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi is back with a new book, his first non-fiction. Loss (HarperCollins) is a collection of three essays. "I've tried to look in the eye what I have lost; I never thought that everything, and everyone, we have lost could mark our character so profoundly," he added about the book that is expected in the summer of 2020.

We gently prodded him to tell us about some of the key reasons behind this book. "Bruschetta, who is pictured here, was my closest friend and ally. She was born on August 9, under the sign of Leo. She passed away last year, from lung cancer, the third of the losses in my life, which set off this recent book."

He nursed his beloved dachshund who lived on beyond the vet's expectations. "Her last six months were pain-free and this reminded me of what we owe the ones we love: a brief exemption from the essential anguish of the world. When you learn to look death in the eye, life no longer intimidates you."

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates