05 June,2022 07:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Team SMD
Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
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As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of his first novel Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, bestselling Mumbai-based author Anand Neelakantan is organising a one-of-a-kind mythology writing workshop in Wayanad. The three-day retreat at Planet Green Resorts will start June 14 onwards, and is going to be very intensive, he says, adding that the space is bang in the middle of a jungle, and is surrounded by plantations. "This resort is where I wrote most of my novels. I am doing this so that I can find new talent and if possible mentor them. It is a one off event and is being done on a no-profit no-loss basis. That is, the cost is only for boarding and lodging, and I am not charging any fees. It is an opportunity for me to share my experience as a writer and things I learned in my career with aspiring authors," he told this diarist. Details about the writer's retreat are available on his website anandneelakantan.com.
Founder of Moner Bistro & Dessert Bar, Chef Freny Fernandes has introduced a monthly meal subscription service packed with healthy and delicious meals. The chef, who has lived most of her adult life solo and independent, shared how preparing meals every day was a task, a problem she thinks that engulfs the lone souls in Mumbai. "Since most people who live by themselves hire a maid or order from restaurants every day, I thought why not start a meal service of our own that provides gourmet customised meals at a fairly reasonable price". Some of the items on the menu are chipotle grilled chicken with zoodles, prawns Thai curry with brown rice and oriental salad, and blueberry cheesecake.
Sports writer Ron Reed interviews Pakistan batting legend Hanif Mohammad on Australia's 1998 tour of Pakistan. Pic/Mark Ray
A day before he succumbed to heart complications, Australia's veteran sports writer Ron Reed believed that he had dodged a bullet while enduring "three of the worst days in my life" in hospital. He passed away the next day (Friday) and didn't live to turn 75. He was nicknamed The Hound and that's probably because he chased stories. He got many of them through his travels for cricket tours, nine Olympic Games and many other sporting events including Wimbledon. He was in Sri Lanka prior to the 1996 cricket World Cup and a bomb went off at the National Bank building near Reed's Colombo hotel. He got down to write his Herald Sun column which was headlined, DON'T GO. And Mark Taylor's Australians stayed away from the Sri Lanka part of that World Cup. Just the other day, he wrote a fine tribute to Andrew Symonds, who left the world on May 14. Reed admitted that his interactions with the deceased Queensland cricketer were restricted to press conferences which Symonds never enjoyed, but he "must have been a terrific bloke to know." This diarist has shared press box space in Australia with Reed without getting to know him well. He wishes he had.
ARTWORK/DEREK D'SOUZA
It seems that talent runs in the Pandey household. Nihar Saquib, son of Rama Pandey, who is the sister of Piyush and Prasoon Pandey, and singer Ila Arun, is also a writer, producer and director. Saquib and executive producer Anand Roy came together to work on The Ship of Myths - a 10-episode audio adventure series. This podcast series showcases the different legends of East Asia, some of which are Singapore, India, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, China, and Japan among other regions.
NIHAR SAQUIB
"We came up with this fictional series where we celebrate these ancient legends and have adapted them. In some cases, we have also written fresh stories for monsters in ancient mythology like the Yeti from Nepal that didn't have a particular story," says Saquib. He describes this series as age agnostic, being dark enough for the older crowd to enjoy and light and safe enough for family to listen to together. They started in October-November last year and released the first part of the series yesterday.
The 2012 Delhi gang rape shook the entire nation, including Andheri-based ElsaMarie D'Silva, an aviation professional who made a career switch and launched Safecity. The platform crowdsources personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse in public space. The idea is to collect data and make it useful for individuals, as well as institution service providers like police and administration, in order to create a safe, secure and empowering environment for women in public places. Earlier this week, it won the prestigious World Justice Challenge, in the Equal Rights and Non-Discriminatory Category. "It is a very important award, because it comes from the World Justice Forum, which brings together eminent people in the justice and legal world, it gives us credibility and validates that we are on the right path," says 48-year-old D'Silva over a telephonic conversation from The Hague, Europe, where she received the award on Thursday, adding that while sexual violence is pervasive, there is a data gap. "By collecting and publishing personal stories, it allows one to collate data to understand the spectrum of abuse and demand accountability from institution service providers, who don't get this data set. A recent report highlighted that in the presence of police, the crime rate in India saw a decline of 27 per cent, so we feel that this data can help them deploy resources effectively."
