Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Selfie humne le liya

Manyata Dutt is her usual photogenic self as she poses for a selfie with husband Sanjay and Jaywant Wadkar at the trailer launch of their maiden Marathi production at a Juhu theatre on Tuesday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

To the tune of kindness

In 1995, Ajit Deshpande, former Bollywood actor Tara Deshpande's father and then, The Rotary Club of Bombay's president, passed away in a tragic car accident while taking a team from the club to the Dominican Republic for a project. Four years later, the Ajit Deshpande Medical Centre - which provides free medical care to approximately 22 thousand adivasis and farmers living in Dahanu annually - was set-up in his memory by Deshpande's family and the club.

Under the leadership of its new president, Preeti Mehta, a fundraiser featuring acclaimed Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam has been put together at a city venue to commemorate 20 years of the centre's existence. "I have been traveling the world this year for concerts, but it feels special to be a part of a concert where, the intention is to generate funds for public welfare," Nigam told this diarist.

Look who's chilling out

Two bigwigs from the F&B industry were recently at loggerheads on social media. One restaurateur accused the other of copying the interior decor for his new venture from the former's already existing eatery and store.

And while Zorawar Kalra and Priyank Sukhija kept it civil and even spoke about meeting up for a drink, netizens found it hard to believe - until Tuesday morning when an image on Instagram confirmed that the two have indeed met and made up over a drink. Cheers to that.

Building a glorious legacy

It was in early November last year when this diarist met Father Jude Botelho at the Church of Our Lady of Glory [Gloria Church], Byculla. While he wasn't in the pink of health then, we remember him obliging us with a tour of the 160-foot-tall heritage landmark, whose repairs and restoration he had overseen. The 75-year-old priest, who served the Archdiocese of Bombay for 48 years, and played a significant role in preserving the rich heritage of key churches in the city, breathed his last on July 16.

"Fr Botelho was also a pioneer of media communications, responsible for starting a media outreach in the church, through the youth centre. Towards the end, in whichever parish he was, he ensured the cultural heritage as well as the beauty of the buildings were preserved," Fr Nigel Barrett, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Bombay, told this diarist.

In Margaret's words

In an interview in 2010, writer Margaret Mascarenhas spoke about waking up in the middle in the night with a story and knowing only its beginning and end. "That's how I start and then I take five years to fill in the middle," she remarked.

This Sunday, the Goa-based writer who was the first executive head at the Sunaparanta, passed away due to cancer. Mascarenhas was apparently working on her third novel Just Another Car Bomb, based in Beirut. And although this might be the end of her story, we hope we can see its release in the not-so-very distant future.

My guru, the Ustad

Documenting tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Husain in the 1980s, Dayanita Singh forayed into the photography scene. The end product was the publication of an 80-page book in 1986 that paints a vivid portrait of the musician as her graduation project.

Pic courtesy/Dayanita Singh/Instagram

Yesterday being Guru Purnima, she took to Instagram to share a lovely tribute to Husain. "I did not become a musician but I could not have become whatever I did become, without his guidance, he taught me focus, he taught me rigour, and to never stop learning.

He taught me the importance of mastering one's medium before even trying to challenge it, to find new directions, new conversations," she wrote. Singh also recalled how Husain happened to see her work at a major exhibition many years later and texted her a congratulatory message.

"I said cheekily, "See, even I am a star now" to which he replied 'I hope you never start to believe that, because the day you do, it will be over.'" Well, we can only say that's some good advice to follow.

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