16 December,2023 06:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
A policeman helps two senior women cross the road at Gateway of India amid the ongoing Navy Day celebrations.
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The 25th edition of Thespo, a week-long theatre fest, recently concluded at Veda Kunba Theatre with celebration, felicitations, and of course, drama. "After a two-year hiatus due to pandemic, when we used to host the event online, we came back with one of the grandest fests yet," said Arun Gupta, of the core team. "We had four plays, three of which were directed by women," he beamed. The event, held last Sunday, saw many young theatre enthusiasts being acknowledged. "The Sultan Padamsee Award for Outstanding Play was presented to A Study of Fear, The Alyque Padamsee Award for Actor [male] to Aaryan Tandon while the Pearl Padamsee Award for Actor [female] went to Anoushka Zaveri. We also presented The Spirit of Thespo award to Table and Stool, a listening community that sat through and listened to over 100 stories as part of the fest," he told this diarist.
What gives 55-year-old Freeman Fernandes the kick in his life? "Football," he told this diarist. His recent initiative to build a unique football community reflects the same. "In amateur matches, players pay money to be a part of a league. But what I noticed is that in these matches, weaker players do not get enough chances to play. Also, it is too expensive to participate in a league, despite these being regular matches. Hence, I founded The Players League - of the players, by the players, for the players," he shared, adding that two other football enthusiasts, Pranav Bhuta and Jash Shah, helped him execute the same. "Players have to only pay the turf fee. We will distribute them evenly across teams and work up a feasible schedule. Players among us will act as referee and linesman, etc, to save cost," he added. With the initiative only 15 days old, Fernandes has managed to build a WhatsApp community of over 300 participants. "We are at 20 teams now, with more being added every day. The league matches will start in January and go on till May," he explains. For more details, message 7977162054.
Naturalist Pranav Joshi had a deja vu moment last Sunday when he spotted a familiar eight-legged friend on a walk around the Bombay Natural History Society's Conservation Education Centre in Goregaon. Earlier this year, Joshi had discovered and described a new species of jumping spiders with his colleague Rishikesh Tripathi. The duo named it Hasarius Mumbai as a tribute to the city. Describing the chance meeting, he told this diarist, "I moved to Australia soon after, and didn't think much of it. I returned last week and happened to take a walk on the same trail we had initially spotted the species on. And there it was! I was delighted by the coincidence, and the first thing I did was send Tripathi a picture."
There is a heavy infusion of Mumbai racing hearts and soles (pun intended) with at least 190 Mumbai runners registered for the Tata Steel Kolkata 25 km to be run tomorrow in the City of Joy. There are some, like Kolkata native, Ratan David, who shifted to Mumbai in 2021 for work reasons. He goes back every year for this particular long-distance run. David (51) has his running group there the fabulous, fierce and fleety, Kolkata Road Runners. David also heeds the unique call of Kolkata. He said, "Running past the Victoria Memorial and the Red Road, which is a flat, fast stretch, with the defence area on one side and an open, green maidan on the other, is truly exhilarating." Sunday will see a little bit of Mumbai in Kolkata.
A new address has been added to the city's art landscape with the opening of the second branch of Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art Gallery in Colaba. Inaugurated by Sangita Jindal, JSW Foundation chairman, the new space opened with FORM, a display of artworks ranging from the 1960s till the last decade. "Since this is a soft launch, we felt a display would be the best way for people to engage with the works as opposed to a formal exhibition. We will open an exhibition in January for the Mumbai Gallery Weekend," Anupa Mehta, art consultant and director of the gallery, shared with this diarist.
