Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

In it together

A woman lends her companion a hand to help her find her way from the promenade onto the tetrapods at Marine Drive

Cheers in Chicago

Chetan Gangan

It hits different when Indian flavours and ingredients find a special mention on global platforms. Kamet, an Indian single malt whiskey - that was launched by Ansh Khanna two years ago - recently made its way into a Chicago restaurant. Michelin-star chef Sujan Sarkar, who helms Indienne in Chicago, took the whiskey under his wings and prepared two unique cocktails with the help of Mumbai-born mixologist, Chetan Gangan. Gangan shared with this diarist, "Kamet is amazingly smooth and easygoing, which makes it great for cocktail-making. I love it in a penicillin. It has a fruity profile with oak spice-forward notes and is complemented by vanilla, caramel, and raisins. Kolkata is inspired by the Bengali drink, aam porar shorbot, and the cocktail penicillin. It includes Kamet, folded with fresh ginger and roasted mango elixir, and then topped with a spritz of Islay whisky."

Also Read: Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Hello, Sydney

Manoj Bajpayee in a moment from Joram

Mumbai-based filmmaker Devashish Makhija's (inset) tale of migrant struggles and marginalisation, Joram, will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June. It is part of their continental ambitions, Makhija told this diarist.

"The film opened in Europe at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in January, and now heads to the biggest film festival in Australia. Hopefully, this year, we will crack all the continents," the filmmaker humorously added.

When mum and daughter are in sync

Ananya Bhowmick with her daughter, Nivedita Padmanabhan

Wadala-based tween Nivedita Padmanabhan has been singing since she was a toddler. With parents who live and breathe music, she probably learnt singing at her mother's knee. And this Mother's Day, Nivedita and Ananya have come together to release an original track titled O Maaeri. "The opportunity was made possible by Artium Academy where my daughter is a student, and I teach music. The song spotlights the feelings of a child but also hoists a mother's identity through her baby," Ananya shared with this diarist.

Shadow practice

A man performs a zero shadow day experiment. PIC/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

This diarist had earlier discussed Zero Shadow Day witnessed in Bengaluru. Now, Mumbaikars can kick off the countdown. You have the chance to observe the phenomenon on May 15. "Right at 12 noon, stand on plain ground or place an object perpendicular to a plain surface out in the open. You will observe that the object casts no shadow. Try it. It's not harmful to your health in any way, other than you suffering a possible heat stroke by standing in the sun for long," astronomer Abhay Deshpande laughed.

Connecting the dots in Colaba

Sequiera wants people to stop and look up to soak in Colaba's charm

Did you know that the second Pasta Lane close to the southern-end of Colaba Causeway houses a small garden that wasn't a garden originally? Or, that a 100-year-old bakery in Colaba market serves kadak pav throughout the day - and even at night?

The pav from a local bakery hints at Colaba's earliest breadmakers

Daniel Sequiera, who runs Karfule - the 1938 Art Deco fuel and service station in Ballard Estate, is coming up with an interactive walk this Sunday that will urge attendees to pause and look up. "I want to draw people's attention to sights and sounds they wouldn't usually notice when in the neighbourhood," he told us. He added that the walk will end with some happy gorging at Kailash Parbat or Madras Café in Colaba.