Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Plane sailing

Children spend a rainy day flying model airplanes near Shivaji Park in Dadar on Tuesday. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Minus the Joy

Colaba's Touch of Joy salon with its shutters down on Tuesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

With the economic oxygen supply choked thanks to the pandemic, the axe looks to have fallen on yet another Mumbai landmark. Colaba's Touch of Joy beauty parlour is to shutter its doors for good.

Remu Zaveri of the SoBo outpost did not respond to requests for comment. But we hear through sources that the space, a SoBo institution, is to become a memory soon. Though salons have reopened recently, most owners are struggling with a thin client base trickling in since a majority still prefer to let their greying or long lockdown locks simply be. So then, it looks like it's the unkindest cut of all for Touch of Joy.

Sweet purchase

There was collective heartbreak among Mumbaikars with a sweet tooth when Pooja Dhingra, who founded Colaba's beloved Le 15 Café and Patisserie, announced in May that she is shutting the SoBo outpost for good. The financial losses that resulted from the pandemic were taking too much of a toll.

But Dhingra has now decided to put up everything at the café for sale, starting from aprons priced at '400, custom-made bamboo chairs with cushions ('5,040), wooden square tables ('5,600), to a wooden sitting stool with a cushion ('896). Those are reasonable prices, and Dhingra told this diarist, "Even the coffee machine is up for sale since we don't have use for it anymore. The whole idea was that in this manner, people can keep a little bit of Le 15 in their homes even though it shut down."

The dignified fight

A still from Sindhustan

Embroiled in a legal battle during the lockdown, this week celebrity hairstylist and filmmaker Sapna Bhavnani issued a clarification on social media, in response to a smear campaign and misinformation she says is being spread by Kabir Singh Chowdhry of Dark Matter Pictures. In May and June, Bhavnani stated that two cases were filed against her before the Bombay High Court in relation to the films Mehsampur and Sindhustan, and that Chowdhury had called her and her proprietary concern, the independent entertainment company, Akbar Pains, a fraud.

Having suitably addressed all claims and allegations, Bhavnani told this diarist, "The matter is pending before the Honourable Bombay High Court and I have deep respect for the legal process. Hence, I would not like to participate in mud-slinging on social media and make a mockery of the law."

Much room for mushrooms

You're out on an errand, your plan is set. But once in a while, the beauty of nature stuns you, makes you reach for your camera and capture it.

"I had stepped out to shop for groceries in the morning when this giant white mushroom on the pavement caught my eye. A half-foot tall, this fruiting body of a gilled mushroom [fungal order: Agaricales] was blooming in all its glory. It reminded me that the pandemic may have slowed down the rest of the world, but it allowed a wild mushroom to grow," mid-day staffer and avid photographer Uday Devrukhkar, shared with this diarist.

An equal society

A webinar this weekend aims to take a step forward in the direction of gender equality. It features Joyita Mondal of West Bengal, India's first transwoman who's a Lokpal judge, and Satyashree Sharmila Rehematali the country's first transgender lawyer. NGO Tweet Foundation is organising it in conjunction with rights organisation Inharmony, whose founder, Anupama Easwaran, told this diarist, "The idea is to educate society about the struggles that the community faces."

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