02 January,2021 11:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
People begin the year on an auspicious note at Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi on Friday.
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Orchestra Mahim Group is a bunch of musicians who faced a tough time during the pandemic, but received help from an unlikely source. Doctors from Nanavati Super Specialty Hospital recently held a musical gala where they sang Hindi tunes with members of the orchestra group providing the music. The event was meant to raise funds to support this musical group. Dr Mihir Bapat, one of the singers, told this diarist, "We thought that instead of giving them charity, let's make money for them by letting them do what they do, which is play music."
These days, social media is riddled with inspirational quotes and self-help guides that are aimed to make our lives more fulfilling. But sometimes, it can seem as if the people who posted them are too full of themselves. That's what actor Ashwin Mushran feels, which is why he's started a new series called Incomplete Poetry. The idea is to put up a video of him reciting an unfinished verse that he has written in a terrible manner, but deliberately so. The first one is about the Coronavirus, and Mushran told this diarist, "I came across some people who post poetry that seems deep, but isn't necessarily so. So, I thought that I'd fool around a little bit. Sometimes, people are way too serious about things and that's why I thought I would put up poems that are really bad. I mean, it's got to be truly bad for me to put it up, which takes some thinking." He added that the next video in line is about drunk driving.
As a retired IAS officer, Avay Shukla is a person who has had an insider's perspective on how the wheels of the Indian political system function. And he's now penned down some of his observations in a wry manner in a book called PolyTicks, DeMocKrazy & MumboJumbo: Babus, Mantris & Netas (Un)Making our Nation (Penguin Random House India). It features 58 selected pieces that cover a vast range of subjects, such as Aadhaar, demonetisation, black money, cows, bribery and environmental challenges facing the country. Sharing about that last subject, Shukla said, "What concerns me the most - in fact, alarms me - is the manner in which the central government is dismantling, act by act, the regulatory framework for protecting the natural environment, which is being sacrificed for 'ease of business.'"
Soumitra Chatterjee (right) shooting for a film with Satyajit Ray (left)
The world lost one of the doyens of Bengali cinema when Soumitra Chatterjee passed away in November last year. The actor starred in path-breaking movies including the Apu trilogy and the Feluda series, and had given permission for a book that documented his career. Called Soumitra Chatterjee: A Life in Cinema, Theatre, Poetry and Painting (Niyogi Books), the material in it is derived from several interviews that the actor granted to the two authors, Arjun Sengupta and Partha Mukherjee. The title couldn't be completed before his death, but will hit bookshelves on January 19. It explores Chatterjee's early years and his relationship with stalwarts such as Satyajit Ray. It also focuses on his career in theatre, considering that he kept returning to the stage to seek inspiration. "This has been a passion project and a landmark book for us. We have left no stone unturned to ensure that it's a fitting tribute of a great man's life and work," shared publisher Bikash De Niyogi.
A visible void was felt in the world of poetry when Manglesh Dabral, one of the most prolific poets in the country passed away last month at 72. Paying tribute to the legacy of the Hindi poet and journalist, this evening, students of CLAY School of Actors will perform dramatised readings of five poems written by him at their Andheri space. The design and direction has been done by Om Prakash (inset), who shared, "I didn't know Dabral personally.
But I was moved by his poems, which cover contemporary issues and existential problems that are important for people to know. The piece merges paintings by famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci with his poems. I hope to take it to art schools in the future."
