10 April,2022 07:19 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Sameer Markande
A giant flamingo sculpture being installed by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation in Airoli
Nush Lewis with her community choir, The Euphony Choir
Around two months ago, musician Nush Lewis, who is the founder of Offset Education, a music education property, made the decision to start a community choir, The Euphony Choir. "We didn't do anything [such as workshops] in the second wave and so we wanted to do execute something immediately and wanted it to be community-driven rather than just a workshop," says Lewis. "I went back in time to when I had started, which was in a choir." The choir was started a month ago and they take up new registrations at the beginning of every month. While they had their first session for April on Saturday, they will still accept new registrations. The choir is open to people of all ages, gender and even disabilities. "This is for people coming together for the love of singing," she says. The choir meets every Saturday 4 pm at Bay Owl Studios, Khar, and has a registration fee of R2,000 per month. "It has been beautiful to see everybody accepting everyone in their own unique way and also being patient."
Jerry Pinto
Bandra's MCubed Library has been chosen to manage the The Mehlli Gobhai Award for the Best Work in Children's Book Illustration. The award will be announced in September this year, says author Jerry Pinto, the brainchild behind it. "In the world of children's books, the unspoken heroes are the illustrators." As a children's writer, Pinto feels that it's the illustrations that help young readers jump off into the world of imagination. Since Mehlli was an illustrator himself, it was fitting to have an award that celebrated such works. "In his will, he had left money for the promotion of artists; it would be a good way to bring them into the limelight." MCubed, says Pinto, was the perfect platform because Mehlli loved the library. "He saw it as a small enterprise with a big vision."
In the highly competitive world of contemporary cricket, television viewers don't often see umpires sharing light moments with cricketers in between deliveries or overs. It's all too serious on the mind-your-business path. This was not so in another era and it's probably a good time to remember all those umpires who were good at what they did with the rules and regulations, but also displayed their cheerful side. Let's take Piloo Reporter, 83, for example. He revealed in Sunday mid-day many moons ago that he'd tell overstepping bowlers, who were having problems avoiding no-balls, "I'm not interested in the headlines tomorrow, but you would be. So, take care." We're quite sure that no bowler took offence to Piloo's way of telling him or her to land that front foot right. Keep well, Piloo. We'll keep remembering you.
Bottura was on TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World list in 2019
Restaurateur and the chef patron of Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin-star restaurant based in Italy that has often found itself at the top of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, Massimo Bottura is coming to Mumbai. "I've always loved India and its amazing people. Yes, more than food, it's the people. I love their smiles and attitudes. I can't wait to come and offer you a warm hug and beautiful food," says Bottura, who was also featured in the first episode of Netflix's Chef's Table (Season 1, 2015) and TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World list in 2019. Invited by Masters of Marriott Bonvoy and Culinary Culture, Bottura isn't travelling alone. He is bringing his team along and together, they will be cooking two exclusive dinners at the St Regis Mumbai on April 15 and 16, priced at R35,000+taxes per person. Expect Bottura's signature dishes like âOops I dropped the Lemon Tart', a dish created by mistake, his childhood favourite The Crunchy Part of the Lasagne, and Beautiful Psychedelic Beet Not Flamed, Grilled, a dish created as a tribute to English artist Damien Hirst's spin-painted canvases.
He quit the fast-paced world of racing to be an entrepreneur, and now is back to racing. Lee Keshav, who made his national-level debut in the highly competitive JK Tyre Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R Cup championship, and went on to take part in the MRF Challenge Winter Championship, took a break to start working with Hike, a messenger app, in 2015, where he now heads the design team. But, he couldn't stay away for too long. Speaking about his comeback plan, Keshav said, "Professionally, it was a very long break from motorcar racing. I restarted my professional practise in January this year, but also being a part of a start-up, the schedule has been tight. I am in talks with a few organisations and individuals and should finalise one in the next couple of months." Keshav says that racing is full of life lessons. "In racing, you're always taught that everything is under your control. Taking radical responsibility and being proactive is essential."
