Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

World within a world

Three friends seem fascinated by what they see on a phone screen at Carter Road in Bandra

That was simply superb by Benaud

Australian cricketer Richie Benaud. Pic/Getty Images

Injuries to experienced pace bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood have cut the touring Australian team deep and this is not the first side from that part of the world to endure such upheavals. We can go back to the first-ever India v Australia Test series on these shores in 1956-57. Ace leggie Richie Benaud decided before the opening Test that he would adopt a shorter run-up and while he needed all the encouragement for his new approach, a dampener came in the form of players being unfit to play that Test in Chennai. "I was nervous about the whole thing [shortening of run up]. Although I had thought about it for a month, I had done it in a day. What I needed was a good performance to act as a confidence-booster. What I didn't need was to hear that Ron Archer's leg was too bad for him to play, or that Keith Miller's knee was playing up and that Alan Davidson had a muscle problem," Benaud wrote in Anything But… An Autobiography. It worked out well for the tourists as Australia won by an innings and five runs with Benaud claiming eight wickets in the Test. Pat Cummins & Co didn't enjoy such a finish at Nagpur, but then these are still early days of the tour.

Also read: Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

A belly of possibilities

Imagine a large dreamlike structure looming above the ground, on multiple legs, resembling a gaping mouth. Is it a nest, a cave, a fruit, a half-eaten vegetable, an egg, a whale, a boat, or a womb? Architects and urbanists Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty say that it could be anything you want it to be. The installation, Belly of the Strange, a bamboo, wood and papier-mache structure was co-commissioned by Dhaka Art Summit and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, and was part of the exhibition, Very Small Feelings, curated by Akansha Rastogi, Diana Campbell and Ruxmini Chowdhury.

The installation is meant to be a transactional space to house books that take us into the world of stories and illustrations. "The first avatar of the Belly as a bulbous form was conjured at MACBA, Spain in 2018 as part of the exhibition, In the Open or in Stealth, The Unruly Presence of an Intimate Future, curated by Raqs Media Collective. At the Dhaka Art Summit, it became a performative functional ground for multiple activities, to gather daily exchanges and facilitate kinships with strangeness, strange forms and ideas," shares the duo.

The hot sauce crosses borders and how!

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Mikhel Rajani's hot sauce startup Naagin Sauce, which reimagined Indian chillies to be used as condiment, cooking sauce and marinade, has found takers in Canada. To cater to the growing demand, the startup has partnered with Walmart to retail its hot sauces. "Canadians love their food and Indian cuisine is among their favourites and for a good reason - the Indo-Canadian population is about 1.86 million. Hot and spicy, our hot sauce is like the flavours of India bottled in a jar and makes for an important ingredient to every recipe."

Mumbai is pretty in pink

Vikhroli currently looks picture post card perfect

Pink makes Mumbai blink, in awe and wonder. A video is viral on WhatsApp showing a swathe of pink flowering trees on the Eastern Express Highway, near Godrej Vikhroli. ‘Cherry Blossom season' the video says. "This is not Cherry Blossom," said Avinash Yadav, Asst. Superintendent Gardens, G-South. "These are Tabebuia Rosea trees, commonly known as the Basant Rani in India. Colloquially, they are also known as the Pink Trumpet, as the flowers are trumpet shaped." Yadav added that the Eastern Express stretch is a MMRDA-Godrej collaboration, maintained by the BMC. Yadav said this is the national tree of El Salvador in Central America and known as Maquilishuat there." Maquilishuat there, Basant Rani here, is quite the queen of hearts as she skips from one chat group to another.

Goa calling

Another city-based entrepreneur, this time a restaurateur, has found a perfect spot for his next venture. Hitesh Keswani, the man behind Opa Kipos, Akina, and Estella, is opening a beach side property in Goa's Morjim called Blue Turtle. "It made perfect business sense and seemed the right time to explore North Goa, more so after the Mopa airport brought that part of Goa in the limelight," says Keswani about the property, which is being opened on the Turtle Beach, named after the Olive Ridley Turtles. "It is the most beautiful stretch of untouched beach," he points out, adding, "Morjim lacked spaces that had the old Goa charm, live music and fresh seafood. The menu by Chef Rohan D'Souza will boast of Mediterranean and Asian influences along with regional Goan favourites. Complementing it would be their signature cocktails."