Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Work-life balance

A man catches up on his sleep while balancing on his scooter at Fashion Street near Churchgate.

Baba is rocking it

It came as no surprise to us to learn that the Mumbai lingo of Baba Sehgal rocked the stage at the recent Ziro Music Festival in Arunachal Pradesh. The festival, which concluded last week, was worth the long trip, Sehgal told this diarist. "My slot was 45 minutes, but it went on for one and half hours. I could have gone on for another three hours," he remarked. As for the crowd, the singer was surprised that they knew all of his songs - including the new ones he has shared only on social media. "The performance was excellent, and the crowd knew the lyrics to songs such as Aloo ka paratha, Chicken fried rice; I was mighty thrilled. It was a more than 8,000-strong crowd," Sehgal said. Now back, the singer is onto his next gig in Amsterdam, this time as a DJ. "I am DJ Baba Sehgal now," he pointed out, adding that he would be focusing on Latin, EDM and hip-hop music at the international session.

Salute to the Korean maestro in ink

Hazarika's tribute to Kim Jung Gi (right) Santanu Hazarika

The passing of South Korean illustrator and visual artist Kim Jung Gi earlier this week came as a shock to the global community of illustrators. Some took to their drawing boards to pay tribute to the Guinness World Record-holding artist who never stopped creating till the end. Mumbai-based Santanu Hazarika's tribute to Gi caught our eye. As a self-taught artist, Hazarika mentioned that Gi's work inspired him. "I came across Kim Jung Gi and was blown away by his composition, perspective and his images," he said. The artist was unique in his ability to create animals with human characteristics, Hazarika noted. "The artwork I created was a tribute to him in his signature style of black, white and grey shading. These are accompanied by characters inspired by his compositions. I also used a crying tiger with human features - as a tribute to his many famous tiger creations," he told this diarist.

Off with her nose

A Vaastav Foundation member cuts of the nose of a Shurpanakha effigy on Dussehra

Amongst all the Raavans felled this year on Dussehra, there was one with a difference. Vaastav Foundation, the men's rights organisation based in Mumbai marked their Dussehra celebrations by vanquishing Raavan and then cutting the nose of his sister Shurpanakha, before burning her effigy, too in Andheri West. A Vaastav spokesperson told this diarist, "Shurpanakha is a symbol of deceitful and falsely-accusing women who trap men in false cases." Well, as for the nose, there it goes.

Of cavities and conversations

Prateek Bakhtiani (left) prepares for the third edition of the series

Chef Prateek Bakhtiani's latest bulletin series, the third edition of Way Too Many Cavities, will kick off next week on October 15, the chef informed this diarist. The series, he said, sought to bring together the community of pastry chefs in India. Bakhtiani explained, "I wanted to create a space for pastry chefs to discuss their work from a technical point of view, while keeping it accessible to an amateur chef; not necessarily a casual reader." The series began as an effort by the Le Cordon Bleu alumni to shine a light on the pastries in Indian cuisine. He told this diarist, "Way Too Many Cavities was about sharing thoughts. Across the world, the pastry community is a lot more closely knit and has an easy exchange of ideas. I have seen how that exchange has helped those countries be at the forefront of pastry worldwide." Currently, the series has already had two editions that revolved around interesting themes coupled with social context. This edition will revolve around the theme, ‘Fruity'. "It is all about fruits and seasons. Each chef will make their own version of tarts, and speak about the use of seasonal fruits," he added. There is more than just cooking, he promised. "The term is also used to describe queer folk, so we are speaking to queer people in the industry about where we stand and where we go from here," the chef revealed.

Poetry to effect change

Children at the 2016 edition. Pic Courtesy/Shashikant Patil

The annual edition of 100 Thousand Poets for Change will take place online starting today. The three-day event hosted by Fort bookstore, Kitab Khana, will feature conversations around the partition, poetry by women and children's friendship as themes. "The concept is to talk about issues related to peace, justice and sustainability," curator Menka Shivdasani said. The events will be accessible to patrons on the bookstore's Facebook page.