Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Wave of joy

With the drop in Covid-19 cases, two young visitors make merry at Dadar Beach on Friday

Party in the Park

Selfie points are ready and in full use as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Arts Festival, kicked off yesterday and continues till Sunday. For this period, Mumbai's iconic Shivaji Park hosts a plethora of activities. Lights have festooned the Park and the iconic location wears a festive look. Ah, Shivaji Park, where ball hits the sweet spot of the bat, history mixes with the red mud and the crunch of a crisp batata vada between pav makes you say: waah Park boliye.

Lens on Mumbai's bhistees

The bhistees carry a goat-skin water bag called mashq. Pic Courtesy/Aslam Saiyad

Years before, and even after, the advent of pipelines and taps in the city, the bhistees would ferry water to Mumbaikars using mashq - a goatskin water bag. Hailing from Rajasthan, the small community started fading away in the 1980s and '90s, once tap water became commonplace. Photographer Aslam Saiyad, the co-founder of walks and tours company Hallu Hallu, who has been documenting the lives of this now-invisible tribe, shared that they would draw water from natural sources, such as ponds or wells.

"In commercial neighbourhoods such as Null Bazaar, Minara Masjid and Dongri, they continued to work due to demand among traders. Gradually, with motorised water and tankers coming into the picture, their tribe reduced further." Through a photo exhibition at Rizvi College of Architecture's Voices of Mumbai symposium, Saiyad is telling the story of The Last Bhistees. The water carriers, he remarked, are the indicators of Mumbai's water self-sufficiency. "If bhistees aren't there, it means we're drawing someone else's water from far away. I'm trying to showcase this connection," he noted.

Tharoor in town

Dr Shashi Tharoor and Khalid A-H Ansari

A little birdie from SoBo informed this diarist that the much-awaited release of Khalid A-H Ansari's book, It's a Wonderful Life: A Memoir, this Monday will be at the hands of parliamentarian and author Dr Shashi Tharoor. The event, to be held at a SoBo five-star, promises to be a classy affair and is expected to be graced by Mumbai's swish set, as they raise a toast to Ansari's inspiring career and journey.

A new canvas for fresh talent

(From left) Atyaan Jungalwala and Sunaina Rajan

Here's some good news for young artists. Chemould Shift is an extension programme of the 60-year-old gallery Chemould Prescott Road, and will focus on discovering and nurturing breakthrough young artists. An initiative of Atyaan Jungalwala and Sunaina Rajan, the travelling contemporary art platform aims to foster conversations and exhibitions to promote emerging artists, and will be home to innovative projects that go beyond conventional white cube galleries. As a starting point, Shift will be housed at Sugra Manzil in Colaba. "Unlike stationary galleries defined by their permanent architecture, Shift will roam from place to place. We'll host a residency programme and Chemo-uld Prescott Road's senior artists will mentor Shift artists," said Jungalwala, while Rajan added that the space willhouse the Chemould archives, too.

Woofs for the top

From birds to puppies, during the pandemic, a lot more people have opened their homes to pets, who have offered companionship in these tough times. But dogs seem to be a favourite. In fact, a consumer report by Just Dial revealed that canines were the most-searched pets contributing to 66 per cent of the demand on the platform. Demand for birds was second at 18 per cent, followed by cats (9 per cent) and rabbits (3.5 per cent). According to the consumer report, Delhi and Mumbai contributed to almost 50 per cent of the searches that were generated from Tier-I cities. Prasun Kumar, the CMO, noted, "It is interesting to see that searches for pets across India are up by 13 per cent [year on year] with demand for dogs and cats in Tier-II cities higher than Tier-I."