Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Thamba!

A sole traffic policeman stops motorists to let a VIP cavalcade pass through at Shivaji Park.

Mentoring movie makers

The Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) is initiating its first ever mentorship programme, the applications for which open on June 28. The programme will be held every six months. Applicants are required to have basic skills in photography, still or motion, and a minimum of two years of work experience or a film school degree. The programme will select five candidates who will be assigned mentors and get to work closely with the latter for three months, even shadowing them on their shoots. Founded in December 1995 on the eve of cinema's 100th birthday, ISC, whose members include the likes of Santosh Sivan and Anil Mehta, is an educational, cultural and professional organisation dedicated to the art of cinematography, and the struggle for authorship rights of cinematographers.

Lemongrass in a glass

Adityam Dutta, a researcher at Lovely Professional University, has developed a new health drink to enhance immunity. His team has even bagged a patent for their innovation from the Indian Patent office. Made with natural extracts of lemongrass, the drink is said to provide relief from headache, high blood pressure, convulsions, pain and swelling, vomiting, cough, rheumatism, fever, diabetes and exhaustion. "Lemongrass is generally used to prepare tea in India. With our formula, we aim to present its goodness in the form of a chilled drink aimed at youngsters as a healthy alternative to cola-based beverages," he said.

Cheers to Anshu and Avadhoot

Avadhoot Zarapkar and Anshuman Gaekwad

Friendships are formed in many different ways. We just heard of another one recently. It involved former India cricketer and coach Anshuman Gaekwad and ex-Mumbai Ranji Trophy off-spinner Avadhoot Zarapkar. While talking about bowling and dismissing West Indies great Gordon Greenidge, who was conferred knighthood the other day, Kolhapur-based Zarapkar recalled how he found himself without a room partner for that 1974 Indian Universities v West Indies game at Indore. Zarapkar was woken up in the wee hours of November 11 by a knock on his door at The Lantern hotel. It was a travel-weary Gaekwad, who had arrived from Pune, where he represented West Zone against the touring Caribbean side. Zarapkar recalled his roommate trying his best to grab some sleep before it was time to leave for another Nehru Stadium (the ground at Pune was called the Nehru Stadium too). "That's how Anshu [Gaekwad's nickname] and I became friends for life," Zarapkar revealed. It should be stressed that Gaekwad scored a brilliant hundred the very same day. Near-47 years of friendship calls for a mini-celebration either at Baroda or Kolhapur once the pandemic decides to stop ruling our lives and why wait for 50. And on after thought, why not at The Lantern in Indore?

CSW's pal

Founded by Shital Bhatkar and her husband Vikrant, WithAARYA is an NGO started in the memory of their deceased seven-year-old son Aarya. While the NGO supports children su?ering from rare disorders, they also provide ?nancial aid to the poor and needy for health care. Now, they are planning to vaccinate commercial sex workers in the city. Shital says, "The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic was weakened by launching vaccines. People from every sphere yearned to find safety, and most of them has easy access to it. All except the commercial sex workers. Their work continues to be considered taboo, making it harder to help them tackle the problems they face. Hence, to create this change, on June 28, more than 200 commercial sex workers will be vaccinated free of cost with Covishield at Wadia Hospital."

Sarkar is Pan Macmillan's top choice

Congratulations are in order for senior commissioning editor Teesta Guha Sarkar, who was recently made the head of editorial at Pan Macmillan India. Sarkar has been part of the publishing house for over five years now. She began her career at Oxford University Press in 2009, moving on to Scholastic, where she edited YA and children's books, before working as freelance editor. She also edited titles for various publishing houses and has served a brief stint at Penguin Random House India. "[I am] not at all surprised. She reads, commissions and edits across all genres. She has published literary fiction and non-fiction; business books, political books as well as books in mass market genres such as self-help, thrillers. And that's the most important quality needed in an editorial head," says literary agent and commentator Kanishka Gupta, who has worked with her on several titles, including Sunanda Mehta's The Extraordinary Life and Death of Sunanda Pushkar, Pakistani novelist Shandana Minhas's Rafina, and The Ventilator Project by Srikant Sastri and Amitabha Bandyopadhyay.