Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

On rocky ground

Despite him being on bended knee, possibly with a request for help to stand up, the woman nearby seems uninterested to come to his rescue

Coming full circle

Resource recovery enterprise ReCircle is ringing in Diwali festivities by doing their fair share. The organisation that promotes ethical circularity to control waste generation recently joined hands with the Bombay Shirt Company to organise their largest collection drive of 10 tonnes of used articles. Drive in-charge Larsen Pereira told us, "Collections have been underway for over two weekends. Sunday was the last day, where we went door-to-door to pick paper, cloth, metal and e-waste." He added that it helps people to contribute to society as all proceeds will be donated to St Catherine of Sienna School and Orphanage in Bandra.

When significant art takes flight

The Bird on the Tree by Madhvi Parekh, 1975, oil and wax crayon on canvas. Pic COURTESY/DAG WORLD

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York recently acquired artist Madhvi Parekh's work, The Bird on the Tree from DAG. About the accession, Ashish Anand, MD and CEO at DAG, said, "It confirms her status as a global artist of significance.

Our retrospective on the artist has shaped the dialogue around her noteworthy contribution to Indian modernism, and I am delighted to have been part of her journey to international prominence." Parekh shared her take on the news, "I hope viewers will take away their own stories from my work because that's what my painting is all about."

Let's read all the write signs

It was while watching Harry Potter with her daughter that Anita Iyer Narayan began to ponder how much of the story is embedded in visual cues. "While it's great that it's published in Braille and other accessible formats, the [visually] descriptive words have not been seen by those who are blind from birth," shared the founder of EKansh Trust. Readiscovery, their newly-launched short story writing contest for writers who are blind and/or visually challenged, encourages participants to create narratives using a vocabulary that heavily draws from our other human senses. The winning entries will be published online, and there are cash prizes, too.

Loo-p holes everywhere

We love how design-focused new restaurants and bars are cropping up across the city. We believe in giving eateries time to settle, and sort teething issues, but when we dropped by recently for a lunch invite to The Conservatory, a swanky Juhu outpost that boasts of a sun lounge with natural tropical ambiance, it made us cranky AF. The washrooms were appalling. High-end design is redundant when hygiene is compromised. Our server forgot to punch the order for our mains. It took them an hour to realise it; all the while telling us our food was on the way. We turned our attention to soak in the ambiance, but just as we were getting into a good mood while nursing our glass of Pimms, a carpenter casually walked up to our table with a tape for measurements. And this, folks, was a press preview. While every nook in this space was Instagrammable, and has been hailed by the glossies as the new ‘it' address, now is a good time to revisit that age-old adage: God is in the details.

Weaving a grand tapestry of tales

Since childhood, this diarist has felt that big or small, most challenges in life seem a little less daunting if approached through the ambit of stories. More than an escape into a sensory world, it's an immersive search for respite. Building on that sentiment, the Mumbai Storytellers Society in association with Somaiya Vidyavihar University is organising their second international storytelling festival called Gaatha. Amrita Somaiya, the festival chair, believes that the focus of the festival should be on the varied repertoire of indigenous stories and artistes. The fun and creative carnival that will be hosted in the city in February 17 and 19, 2023 will witness performances by Dan Yeshinsky from Toronto, Sita Brand from Yorkshire England, Salil Mukhia Koitso (top) from Thailand, Dr Nina Sabnani, Dr Sherline Pimenta and Janaki Sabesh (left), among others. Festival curator Usha Venkatraman shared with this diarist that the event is being planned keeping the essence of oral recitation in mind.