Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Let's network

Even celebrities can't escape the woe of poor mobile network or so it seems as Manoj Bajpayee scrolls through his phone during a shoot in Film City, Goregaon on Tuesday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Next stop for chor-police

Back in June 2013 when the crime noir genre was still in its birthing years for the urbane Indian reader, US-based techie Saurav Mohapatra made a splash with the digital graphic novel Mumbai Confidential, Book 1 titled, Good Cop, Bad Cop.

At the time, he had promised this diarist in an interview that the hard copy would hit stands soon. We had to wait until the next year for the launch. With action-packed illustrations by partner-in-crime Vivek Shinde, the duo was in fine form as they recreated the city's underbelly using a slick, muted storyboard that created quite the buzz.

"Think of it as Zanjeer meets Sin City!" he said then when we asked him to describe the book. Now, Mohapatra has posted that art and sketchwork has finally begun for Book 2 - A Graveyard for Elephants. It is set in the red light area of Kamathipura during its heyday. From what we recall of Book 1, this too might be a thrill-a-page filmy joyride, Mumbai ishtyle.

Mumbai poets in sunshine state

Performance poet Rochelle D'silva founded the first residency for poets in Goa last year. Called The Poetry Retreat, it spans five days and is held at an eco stay in Porvorim comprising movement work, yoga and meditation. This year, D'silva has got another noted city poet onboard to mentor up-and-coming poets - Menka Shivdasani, who set up The Poetry Circle in Bombay in 1986 and has been mentored by Nissim Ezekiel.

"She is kind and patient. I thought that she would make a wonderful mentor," D'silva told this diarist, while also talking about an addition to this year's residency. "One of the biggest takeaways from the last residency was how much the poets benefitted from having movement and performance classes. This was taught as a guest lecture over a two-three hour period, but this time we will have movement, breathing and bodywork being practiced every day. It adds a lot of value to the poet's confidence and shapes the way they write and respond to their surroundings as well," she said.

Carrying on with the Christmas spirit

The very mention of the word 'cancer' in a conversation can draw a sense of dread among those present. But the more that society normalises discussion, debate and dialogue about the condition, the easier it gets for all of us. Starting the year on a positive note, Ashish Sajnani, the founder of Le Café has initiated a collaboration that included a charity drive took place this week where the restaurant collaborated with AccessLife Foundation to make a small difference.

The platform helps out with free accommodation, transport, food and education for lesser-privileged children with cancer. The drive contributed by patrons to the eatery resulted in 120 gifts for these kids, who are being treated at Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital. "It is the joy of giving to someone without expecting anything in return that matters. We want to make this a yearly property and are looking forward to the next one and to make it bigger," Sajnani told his diarist.

Dunking into history

We all know that culinary chronicler Tara Deshpande is a busybody on social media with her gyaan about historical anecdotes and quirky trivia around food. And one of her recent posts, drew our attention to the oh-so-popular habit of dunking biscoot in our chai.

Well, she has the facts to share about its origins. Turns out, in the 1700s, biscuits for Irish sailors were hard to bite into since they were made of molasses; this was to ensure that they survived the extreme cold conditions. She adds in her post that they were called 'tooth-pullers', and hence were dipped into tea to soften them. Now we know.

Uncle offers lollies for JNU support

Different people are showing their solidarity for the students attacked in JNU in different ways. But this initiative by a suburban Mumbai restaurant is truly unique. Malad's famous Uncle's Kitchen Chinese nook is offering a mouthwatering 33 per cent discount to students today on its most famous dish, the chicken lollipop, as the restaurant celebrates its 33rd anniversary.

"The attack on students in Delhi is very unfortunate. We can't do much sitting here in Mumbai so I thought of this as a humble offering to our country's future," restaurant owner Ronnie D'Souza told this diarist. The eatery is also offering a flat 33 per cent discount to members of the country's armed forces; and this offer, beginning today, will be a permanent one, we are told.

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