The Mumbai Diary page: Thusday Theme

For RG's ears
Knock, knock. Who's there? Campa Cola. We hear that in their bid to secure what they call speedy justice, the residents of Campa Cola Compound (in Worli) have decided to knock on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's door during his visit to Mumbai scheduled for today.

Residents of Campa Cola hold demonstration for the attention and support of Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi to save their homes, on the eve of his visit to Mumbai

"We at Campa Cola Compound have sought time with Rahul to seek his intervention in sorting our issues specially after the Supreme Court asked us to submit a fresh proposal to BMC," said residents of Campa Cola Compound.

The residents had earlier met Gandhi in Delhi, and he had assured them that he would ask Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to look into the matter and try and sort the same.

But, in a scheduled packed tighter than a Virar local at peak hours, how is Gandhi expected to accommodate them? Campa Cola Compound residents are hopeful that Milind Deora would be instrumental in getting Gandhi to meet the residents.

Considering his proximity to Gandhi and also given that Campa Cola falls under his constituency, we believe that it is Deora's duty to push for a solution to help save our homes."

Meanwhile, yesterday, residents posed with banners and pictures at the Worli colony. Just in case they cannot meet Gandhi, they hope pictures will say more than 1,000 words.

Retirement relief
The parents of Graeme Smith, the South African cricket captain, who will enjoy his first day of retirement from international cricket today, will be a relieved pair.

Graeme Smith's father Graham and mother Janet at the Newlands ground in Cape Town during the India vs South Africa one-dayer in 2006. Pic/Clayton Murzello

When mid-day caught up with them during India's 2006-07 tour of South Africa at the Newlands ground in Cape Town, Graham Smith had remarked that it was quite "stressful" for him and wife Janet to watch son Graeme lead and bat for South Africa.

Smith took over the captaincy from Shaun Pollock after the 2003 World Cup disaster when he was still a junior in the team. And Graham described the period as "scary."

Considering that their son emerged as the most successful cricket captain of all time, they can now sit back and say it's been worth the stress.

Horse course
This Sunday March 9, the Mahalaxmi racecourse will play host to the C N Wadia Gold Cup. The race is actually steeped in history. It is a doff of the hat (when it is racing, it has to be hats) to Sir Cusrow Wadia.

Maureen Wadia at a dress rehearsal with the girls

When you step on to that hallowed turf remember that it was Sir C N himself, who originally donated the 225 acres of land in Mahalaxmi to the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC).

Sir Wadia not only gave the RWITC an interest-free loan to build Mumbai's only race course, but, he we hear he also took architects to Melbourne to study and replicate the Melbourne Race Course in Mumbai. A little bit of Melbourne in Mumbai.

On Sunday, we hear this turf is going to play host to the race, and is being dubbed as ‘Family Day'. There is the Gladrags Mrs India Mumbai finale as well as the Little Miss and Master India Mumbai pageant finale slated to be held during the Cup.

An app and a prayer
While some get regressive in the name of religion, the Archdiocese of Bombay is taking not just steps but leaps forward.

It has developed an application - currently available only on Android mobile phones - to "connect Catholics to their faith in both spiritual and practical ways" as the app description on play.google.com says.

The app was launched yesterday, Ash Wednesday, because, as the Archdiocese says (on its Facebook page, wouldn't you know), "ashes remind us of carbon residue" and one of the app's highlights is "40 earth-saving ways to fast this Lent". We can only app-laud the Catholic Church for its green thinking!

‘Super'-annuation, indeed
Those who retire can be suddenly left with "nothing to do". So it's a very welcome surprise to be told that instead of going home on the day of superannuation, one will be moving to another post.

For Ajitkumar Jain, additional chief secretary to the chief minister, it was a pleasant gift to be posted as information commissioner for Mumbai on his last day of service in the CM's office.

Retired IAS officer T F Thekekara, who till recently headed the department of minority development, has similarly been posted as information commissioner at Navi Mumbai for Konkan division.

The posts of information commissioner are apparently coveted in this age of Right to Information (RTI), as there are said to be hundreds of aspirants.

Decisions on who will be posted are taken by a committee comprising the CM, deputy CM and the leader of the opposition.