Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Summer Dhulai
The statue of King Edward VII at Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan in Byculla gets a thorough wash on a hot Saturday afternoon.

Bambai ki cutting chai

Who knew that the street culture of Mumbai poured in a cup - city's cutting chai - would find a fan all the way in Australia? Peter Truswell, the new Australian Consul General to Mumbai, isn't shy to reveal his love for Indian tea. Speaking to this diarist, Truswell says, "I am keen to deepen Australia's relationship with western India across sectors. Another reason to be pleased to be based in Mumbai as a keen tea drinker is the excellent quality of Indian tea. I am excited to try the delicious cutting chai of Mumbai."

Students unite to donate pads

Chhitra Subramaniam

After creating waves with their menstrual hygiene programme, Mumbai-based collective Pad Squad has teamed up with Internashala, a recruitment and training platform by Sarvesh Agrawal. The #UniteForHer campaign has hundreds of interns from Tier-I and Tier-II cities of India participating and working towards spreading awareness on the subject. Akarshika Srivastava said while she was in Varanasi, women were initially reluctant to accept pads.

The students are from Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities and will spread the campaign in their hometowns

"After interacting with more locals, we managed to donate 80 pads. Later, a young boy came running after me, and said, ‘Didi humko bhi de do, hamari bhi behen hai ghar pe', That is when I felt inexplicable satisfaction and gave him a packet of 20 pads." Chhitra Subramaniam, co-founder of Pad Squad, said, "We are excited to have such young, passionate volunteers joining the movement. Every action is important and a collective action sparks change."

The man they call SKY

Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav, India's latest T20 cricket star, has been christened SKY. Why should the fact that Suryakumar is one word (not Surya Kumar) get in the way of a catchy acronym, ask some fans. We concede and welcome Surya to the club of famous Mumbai cricketers who are referred to at times, by their initials - SMG (Sunil Manohar Gavaskar), SRT (Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar), DBV (Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar) and ALW (the late Ajit Laxman Wadekar). Then, there are examples of cricketers with interesting acronyms. MLA was the late Madhav Laxmanrao Apte. And Dada wouldn't mind if someone called him SCG - yes Sydney Cricket Ground - but first, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly. An England captain and much-loved cricketer was MCC. Marylebone Cricket Club? Yes, that's the old and famous institution which even today is responsible for the laws of cricket, but we are referring to Ootacamund-born Michael Colin Cowdrey. Meanwhile, SKY is going to be used often while headlining Surya's batting exploits. And that's what we want more of.

Celebrating the human mind

Actor and VJ, Peeya Rai Choudhuri, co-founder of Omaggio, Goa, has come up with her newest production Circadian with choreographer Tino Sanchez. Circadian is a natural internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats on each rotation of the earth. Her show will reveal that this life can and will open up to its true potential once you accept and give in to its unruly ways. "We all know the kind of battles we fought last year. Circadian emerged from the uncertainty and loss of freedom that each one of us experienced. And yet our human spirit has the uncanny ability to strive and look for joy and laughter. The show will allow ‘you' to experience ‘your' story on stage," says Choudhuri.

A Partition museum in Delhi soon

If all goes as planned, the capital will have a Partition museum of its own. Kishwar Desai, author, and chairperson of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust that set up the world's first Partition Museum at Town Hall, Amritsar, recently took to social media to announce that she has been asked to set up a similar museum at Dara Shikoh Library building in New Delhi. "This is supposed to be ready by August 15 [next year], to mark 75 years since Independence. A part of the building is currently being restored, and should be ready for us by end of this month. So, we are hard at work," says Desai. The Dara Shikoh Library is named after the son of Mughal emperor Shahjahan.