Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

Circle of life

A child runs alongside a rolling tyre at Carter Road in Bandra

Music for good

Carnatic music band 72/35 Southern Street with Amit Kumar

Chembur-based guitarist, Vishnu Iyer's band 72/35 Southern Street will be playing a show organised by ADAPT, an NGO to help people with neuro-muscular and developmental disabilities. The show, Raaga Celebrities, which is also a fundraiser will be held at Tata Theatre, NCPA from 6 pm onwards. The Carnatic music band will be joined by playback singer Amit Kumar and will perform Kishore Kumar's songs. "We are Carnatic classical musicians, who believe that ‘music is worship'. We are also big admirers of Kishore da and the greats in the Hindi film music," says Iyer.

A summer run

Summer is no bummer for the thousands who are gearing up for the 15th edition of the TCS World 10K Bengaluru (TCSW 10K), on May 21, which is a Sunday. The organisers of the Mumbai Marathon, Procam International, hold this event annually in the Garden City. In Mumbai in January this year, there was a lot of pre-race chatter about the route and some trepidation about infra works affecting the runners, though all went stupendously well. In Bengaluru, the 10K route, is simply known as ‘The Boomerang' because of its shape. Flagged off from the iconic Sree Kanteerava Stadium, the event's course is shaped like a boomerang traversing Vidhana Soudha, Cubbon Park, and Chinnaswamy Stadium. The organisers claimed that the boomerang is a symbol of Bengaluru's spirit, culture, and diversity. You can run the boomerang, walk the boomerang, celebrate the boomerang in costume, it was said. We say it is also symbolic about how the world has bounced back post COVID.

What a riot!

Never mind all the paeans to fantastical couture, we connect to designers as people first. In the busy heart of Gaurav Gupta's new store launch in the city on March 3, there came an affectionate moment when the couturier's family walked in, and at once switched the posh mood to a home-movie portrait. A quick scan of the ground-floor area is all it took for the proud father to hug his son and say: "It all looks good, Gaurav."

The couturier with his parents

The comment and visual was a pleasant shard of father-son intimacy. "I have dressed my parents for the occasion," GG (as the couturier is called in close circles) said as he gingerly darted back to posing for eager shutterbugs with Saurabh, his brother, who is also co-founder and business partner at the brand.

GG has named the new flagship store, Shunya - where zero is appropriated as a zone of silence and of pure possibilities for a new beginning. Walking inside the three-storied space is like looking inside someone's head or dreams, which obey their laws of perception. With its scooping curves, impossible angles and haunting white interiors bordering on the hallucinatory (or maybe a Stanley Kubrick work station?) Gupta's 6,000 square-feet space designed by Vishal K Dar primes on an optical game for all kinds of right Instagram frames.

Shimona Nath wears a Cardi Blue look designed by Gaurav Gupta

And there were plenty of photo-ops when the couturier showcased a few pieces from his Paris Haute Couture Week collection, including the sculpted outfit in electric blue worn by singer-rapper Cardi B at the recent Grammy Awards. Between the outfit going viral on social platforms - it's now recalled as the "Cardi Blue" look - and Hollywood actor Sharon Stone wearing GG's gold sequin dress for singer Sam Smith's performance of Gloria on Saturday Night Live, the couturier is finding fame on the international stage. "But my home and my business will always stay rooted in India," he smiled.

Generous Borg and the Mother's gratitude

Tennis legend Bjorn Borg set foot on Indian shores recently and was in the news for leaving a venue in Bangalore on learning that a top Karnataka politician was delayed in his arrival to felicitate the Swede. Borg left for his son Leo's game at the Bengaluru Tennis Open. The five-time Wimbledon singles champion's visit reminded our in-house sporting nut about an India-related story concerning Borg in January 1983.

Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg in Nepal on January 29, 1983; (right) the late Mother Teresa. Pic/Getty Images

Borg spent some time in Nepal, where Kolkata-based magazine Sportsworld journalist David McMahon got him to depart from his no-interviews policy. Borg granted the interview without a fee. His only request was that an amount be donated to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. After the donation was made, the MAK Pataudi-edited magazine was sent a signed God Bless You message by Mother Teresa and was proud to publish it.

Now, something about the interview. McMahon's final question to Borg was about him wanting to be the greatest tennis player of all-time a few years earlier. Borg admitted saying so, but added: "You can never tell. There is so much competition, so many hardworking, talented players. Anyone could come up and produce a career graph that is even better." Dare we say Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have proved Borg right?