Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

In her bubble

In a dreamy kick off to the festive season, a transwoman is surrounded by soap bubbles amid traffic at Aarey signal in Goregaon

Todd's in town

MasterChef Australia's Sarah Todd will be back in town next week for a dinner at a suburban five-star. The Australian chef returns on the invitation of Nikhil Agarwal, founder of All Things Nice, to host a specially curated dinner to celebrate her culinary achievement. Todd's Indian-inspired cooking was a highlight of her performance on the show. The chef revealed that the special menu will highlight her use of French techniques to enhance the desi flavours in the five-course meal with dishes such as Goan sausage Bolognese, Parmesan sablé and Sarah's saagwala paired with Agarwal's wines. "I can't wait to return to my second home and share my love for the cuisine through this menu," Todd told this diarist. We're ready for a feast.

In the sea, we trust

Members of the Koli community offer coconuts at the Kalwa creek bridge to celebrate Narali Poornima. Pic/Satej Shinde

A colourful sea of people from the Koli community braved incessant downpour and thronged Kalwa Bridge in Thane on Thursday to celebrate Narali Poornima. Donning their traditional surka and topi, and barawar (12-yard saree), the Kolis marked their return to the sea with prayers to the sea god, decked-up coconuts, band-baaja, a mela, and some song and dance, too. The Kalwa Bridge has been witnessing the Narali Poornima utsav for years, restaurateur Bhavesh Koli told us. "For us, it's a celebration of our bread-and-butter, since the boats head back to the sea after the monsoon. We pray to keep the fisherfolk safe in the waters," shared Koli, who heads every year to the creek with his family for the utsav.

Here you go, brother

The Let's Feed Mumbai Rakshabandhan campaign. Pic/Sameer Markande

An organisation called Let's Feed Mumbai has been providing the hungry and most times, the homeless people too, one free meal daily at lunchtime. The initiative, in its third year now, finds donors to fund their cause and has at its core the philosophy that ‘Annadaan is the greatest daan'. On Rakshabandhan, members of the Kurla West-based organisation tied rakhis and gave gifts to men along with their lunchboxes. The ladies tied threads on their ‘brother's' wrists. They told this diarist, "We are getting uplifting feedback about how moved the men were and many said that they felt there was somebody looking out for them. Everybody celebrates with their own families at home. Our endeavour was to make these people feel truly protected and special."

Malhar is back

Students at a Malhar event on Sunday. Pic Courtesy/Malhar on Instagram

Malhar, the city's famed inter-collegiate fest hosted by St Xavier's College is back in its physical avatar on August 28 and 29. The 43-year-old festival offers students a platform to hone their skills. To this end, they partnered with Saturday Art Class and Sparsha Foundation last month on a workshop for children from underserved communities. SYBA student and volunteer, Gia Alvares (inset), shared, "Xavierites put a lot of effort into building Malhar to ensure every talent is seen and honed."

Elephantine story

Illustration by Mohit Suneja from Elephants The Super Creatures

Conservationist Nitin Sekar (in pic) could not have timed the launch of his latest book, Elephants The Super Creatures, better. The author's title was launched at Crosswords, Kemps Corner, on World Elephant Day yesterday. Sekar told us, "I realise everyone knows something about elephants, but there is a lot more that has come to light with research recently." From recognising themselves in mirrors to mourning dead relatives, the pachyderms share quite a few qualities with their human neighbours. "These facets and the need for conservation, and their growing conflict with humans are some of the elements that children today need to be aware of, and educated about," he shared with this diarist.