Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Eye have got you

A woman uses her face mask to cover her eyes while playing a blindfold game at Wadala on Thursday.

The verse effect

Ironically, it's the amorphous nature of poetry that helps the literary art form make sense of this world. It's that aspect that 100 Thousand Poets for Change seeks to celebrate, as a global festival. It starts for three days from today, and is being hosted by Kitab Khana in Mumbai. The participants include Faruk Buzhala from Kosovo (in pic), Lisa Vihos (the US), Illya Sumanto (China), and Jameela Nishat (India). The different events entail music, dance, drama and poetry, of course. "Poetry, music, art and nature not only brighten your canvas of life but also express the deepest anguish of humanity, and are sometimes even a form of activism," shared Anand Pendharkar, CEO of Sprouts, the city-based NGO whose members will perform in the Mumbai chapter.

A cafe has a cat call for donations

After a 15-month long hiatus due to the pandemic, the Cat Cafe Studio in Versova has reopened much to the delight of feline lovers. Till September 25, to encourage donations to their Feline Foundation NGO, the café has organised a garage sale at their venue, offering a collection of donated items including clothes, home decor accessories, stationary, shoes, jewellery. "The garage sale has been organised by our NGO unit the Feline Foundation. Proceeds made from this sale will go towards the benefit of senior cats, for their care and also towards the organisation's efforts to take care of their rescues," said Lamya Kapadia, its brand manager.

Theatrical range

The folks at Thespo have put together two evenings of a curated selection of stories. "We called for registrations from across India, and a panel selected the final list after watching all the performances on Zoom," shared Thespo mentor Anushka Ghose. The featured performers include Prashasti Jawkhedkar (in pic), Rutwik Deshpande, Rameshwar Garkal and Vedant Lanje. The stories will tackle a range of subjects, starting from a girl rattled about her annoying sibling to an aspiring actor who finds herself at odds with society.

London calling for this lit fest

The Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) is not just confined to India, it has a London edition as well, called JLF at The British Library, which will be held virtually this year starting today. The programming includes a list of speakers from India and abroad, who come from different schools of thought. They include Makarand R Paranjape, Vir Sanghvi, Swapan Dasgupta, Namita Bhandare, Pavan K Verma, Alexandra Pringle, Alice Albinia, Asma Khan, Bee Rowlatt and Cat Jarman. The sessions will be held both physically and virtually. "JLF returns to the British Library in a hybrid format. The diversity of the programming will open windows to many worlds. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Republic of India, and this reflects in our themes and sessions, as we celebrate books, ideas and dialogue," Bhandare (in pic) shared. Those keen to listen in online can log on to london.jlflitfest.org.

This is your licence to sing

The Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS), which champions the cause of lyricists and music composers among others in the industry, has launched a campaign called Licence Liya Kya. The idea is to empower artistes with proper knowledge about how music licensing works, the best ways to obtain one, and what the benefits are. The campaign itself will involve virtual talks and awareness-building initiatives. "[We will] educate, inform and reinstate the need to listen to licensed music, thereby paving the path towards a flourishing future for the music industry and its creators," IPRS CEO Rakesh Nigam (in pic) told this diarist, while chairman Javed Akhtar added, "We aim to bring about gradual transformation and a mindset shift towards respecting and acknowledging fair pay and fair play of music."