25 December,2023 06:47 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Satej Shinde
A woman helps her son try on his Santa Claus cap at a crowded market in Dadar on Christmas Eve.
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Theatremaker Vikram Kapadia has had a successful season. Despite having a relatively young team of newcomers, his Water Lily Production completed a successful run of their latest musical, The Greatest Show on Earth at Prithvi Theatre earlier this week. "I needed an ensemble cast, and one with a lot of energy," he told this diarist. A musical is never an easy task, and the director revealed that the team rehearsed for over two and a half months before their first show. "It is particularly difficult since everything is live. That's where the youth can prove to be effective," he pointed out. A simple satire that sheds light on contemporary issues, Kapadia (below) is now aiming to bring the show to other theatres in the city. "We hope to keep going. We are in talks with multiple venues, and I hope to finalise something soon," he said.
This season is a time for nostalgia. Daniel Sequeira, co-owner of the Karfule petrol pump in Ballard Estate discovered some in the kitchen this year. "We had an old ceramic pot that belonged to my grandmother on the maternal side. I never realised that it was a specially-made cake mixing bowl," Sequeira shared. Designed in the 1950s, he said that the bowl's special quality was that it could stand upright on its side, without spilling the mix. "Since we always hold it, or place it flat when storing things, it never occurred to us that it could stand up by itself," he revealed. In fact, the bowl traces back to TG Green & Co Ltd, a now-defunct Derbyshire-based ceramic manufacturer. "While the bowl is not old, its style is. These were simple utensils that were designed thoughtfully," he said.
The dates for IIT Bombay's online technology festival, Techfest, are out. Starting December 27, the three-day festival will see several events including a defence symposium, robot wars, drone racing and Boeing aeromodelling take place at the campus in Powai. The defence symposium is a highlight this year. With prominent speakers such as former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karanbir Singh, former Chief of the Army Staff General MM Naravane joining Albert de Roeck, senior researcher from CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), the focus is on the future. "As students, we always had the highest respect for the armed forces, and were interested in their approach to technology. We hope to learn more about the latest advancements," said Shriya Kajrolkar (right), media manager of the fest.
The Italians are known for their luxury and style, but Antonio di Vico walks a different path. Having visited India several times since 2006, the graphic designer was intent on doing a marathon walk across the Subcontinent. "It took me 10 years to make this happen. I started in Dharamshala in August this year, before walking my way through Amritsar, Dehradun, Agra, Udaipur, down to Surat," he shared. Covering a distance of 1,811 km and having faced robbery and a few hyenas along the road, di Vico arrived in Mumbai on November 27. While he planned on continuing the journey down to Kanyakumari, homesickness caused a change of plans. "I am putting together a photo book that documents my journey. I hope to publish it in the next three months, before restarting next year," he noted. The Italian shared that the southern leg will be set along the coastal route starting from Mumbai.
