Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

The ingredients of a festival

Ahead of Diwali, a group of women pick and choose colours for rangoli on Borivali's SV Road.

Verses of peace

Mumbai poet and playwright Anju Makhija will be part of the G100 World Peace Wing in New Delhi. She will be an advisory member of the global movement for gender equality. "We live in horrific times, and I look forward to contribute to peace in any little way I can as a writer or otherwise," she said. To start with, the veteran poet will contribute a few poems to the World Peace anthology edited by poet and novelist Sahana Ahmed, who leads the India chapter.

Food meets art

If global climate change has to be addressed, we have to start young. With this in mind, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) has conceived a new space for kids that comprises planters with medicinal plant varieties. This live outdoor installation - The Edible Pavilion, designed by architect Nuru Karim, opens today on the museum grounds. Aimed to cultivate an interest in urban farming among kids, the space will host Ditty by Tangy sessions, its first event this evening. An art and music initiative from Hyderabad, Tangy sessions, will feature artiste Aditi Veena. "Ditty, our presentation, will showcase songs that inspire us about our natural world," Veena shared with this diarist.

Songs of resistance

Working closely with and documenting Marathwada communities, Keshav Waghmare, writer and executive editor of Anvikshan, a quarterly magazine in Marathi, aims to bring their history to the forefront, particularly, the vastly undocumented art form shahiri. "Shahiris weren't just for entertainment but were used as a tool of resistance and education by shahirs [poet performers] to fight the oppressive caste system and Brahminical forces. Through them, the community's fight, story, ideology and the violence faced were sung about," Waghmare shared. His virtual presentation Tradition as Resistance: Eight Shahirs of Marathwada with the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) will be hosted on Monday. Arundhati Ghosh (below), executive director, IFA, noted that from the 19th century, shahirs built the teachings of Dr BR Ambedkar into their body of work, becoming travelling universities of knowledge, to make information accessible to people to understand the situation and fight oppression. "Through this presentation, we want attendees to not just know more about art and culture but also to understand it as a change-making tool for society," she told us.

January songs

A moment from a previous edition of Janfest. Pic Courtesy/Instagram

Mumbaikars who mark their year with local cultural events would be happy to know that The Indian Music Group (IMG) of St Xavier's College, Mumbai, is coming back with Janfest - a festival that focuses on classical music - in 2023 after a two-year lull. "We were planning to bring back our musical bonanza this year, but then, Omicron hit. We will be putting up a vibrant curation in the coming year. Our list of artistes is yet to be finalised," shared Gauravi Pradhan, general secretary of IMG. Interested folk can check @theindianmusic- group for updates.

Northeastern drift

Gitika Saikia was felicitated by chef Salil Fadnis, president, WICA at the event

We were thrilled to learn that city-based home chef Gitika Saikia, who is a proud custodian of Northeastern (NE) flavours, recently curated the menu for Chef's Connect 2022 - a carnival of food organised by the Western India Culinary Association (WICA). "The brief was clear. I was asked to focus on regional cuisine and Ranjan Rajani, executive chef, Sahara Star, encouraged me to bring my best game to the table. There were 200 chefs, and they liked my pork in Northeastern mustard greens," Saikia told us. There were dishes such as smoked pork skewers with bhut jolokia and tomato chutney, fish innards chutney and axone bhoot jolokia chutney, among other preparations. "I was not too sure about presenting tribal Northeastern dishes but in hindsight, being able to do it gave me a burst of confidence. I was so excited to see people head to the counter for second helpings," she chirped.