Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Hrithik Roshan and Mrunal Thakur

Pain in the neck?

Hrithik Roshan was seen twisting about at the promotions for his next film with Mrunal Thakur at a Juhu venue on Tuesday. Pic/Shadab Khan

A getaway for poets

If you love poetry but are looking to find inspiration in a quiet place away from the hustle and bustle of the city, then former Mumbai-based poet Rochelle D'silva's new endeavour hopes to be the solution.

The poet who shifted base to Goa this year has now started a one-of-a-kind residency solely for poets covering performance and written poetry at an eco-stay, Saraya in Porvorim. The five-day residency called The Poetry Retreat is open to poets from all over India.

Elaborating on how her new venture came to be, she told this diarist, "I always wanted to curate a residency that was affordable and would add value to the poetry community. I wanted to bring good mentors and offer guidance.

Apart from workshops and exercises there will be one-on-one feedback from mentors. There will be four mentors, two published poets and two performing artistes. Poets will have access to writing materials and poetry books."

To new beginnings

This is big news. Believe it or not, but Gaggan Anand has hung up his chef's hat at his eponymous restaurant in Bangkok. While the reason is still not completely clear, differences with his shareholders might have been the tipping point. And while Anand continues to have a stake, he has said that his plan is to buy up all the shares. If he manages to do that, he will continue to run the restaurant.

Gaggan Anand

Otherwise, there is a chance that he will start a smaller restaurant in Japan's Fukuoka city along with chef Tsyuoshi Fukuyama. Either way, the future is uncertain, though the man himself doesn't seem to be too perturbed about it. Meanwhile, the global F&B family came out in support of this culinary giant, including people like Massimo Bottura and Vikas Khanna. We are sure that Anand will work magic with whatever he touches next.

Bhat, really?

This week, Tanmay Bhat posted a series of videos on Instagram to talk about his journey since the #MeToo movement unfolded last year. The comedian revealed that he was diagnosed with clinical depression, receiving the support of fellow comedians like Kunal Kamra, Kenneth Sebastian, Rohan Joshi and Kaneez Surka. But it was also the subject of backlash.

Aditi Mittal and Tanmay Bhat

"Damn. I remember when I had to hear on the set of a show that I was working on that I gave "tit access too soon" coz it was told by Tanmay Bhat to the 22-year-old writers on that set... [sic]" Aditi Mittal wrote on Twitter.

Even writer Mahima Kukreja tweeted how women's mental health is not prioritised over their oppressors. "I can't get myself to get on stage regularly to perform comedy because I'm afraid to run into your fav woke comic boys who will trigger me and cause me panic attacks but the who the fuck cares right [sic]," she wrote. Going by the traction that this spat has raked up, we're pretty sure that we haven't heard the last of this controversy.

What is Arnab Goswami reading?

What do you do when you catch a former colleague reading your book? You quickly take a picture and upload it. Well, that's exactly what former NDTV bureau chief and resident editor Sanjay Pinto did when he spotted former working buddy Arnab Goswami reading his third book, My NDTV Days.

"See who is engrossed in my book #MyNDTVDays in @republic. As a former colleague of mine at @ndtv during those gentler times when news reportage was the fulcrum of prime time, my interaction with #ArnabGoswami, is featured in a chapter [sic]," Pinto wrote.

We can't help but notice the irony of Pinto reminiscing about a "gentler time", a situation that seems unlikely since Goswami introduced the screama-thons that dominate several broadcasting channels today.

It's raining jokes

Rains don't stop Mumbaikars from joking about their situation. On a viral Twitter thread, a user named Rachit Doshi posted screenshots from the M-Indicator app where people were discussing all sorts of things: from someone requesting multiple users to post "trains are not working", so he could send a screenshot to his boss to people using the app as a dating one.

But true jugaad was seen when people warned others about TCs at certain stations. We're hoping to see the thread continue, just for laughs.

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