Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

Combing Operations

A shop-keeper in Malad ensures his hair is in order with the help of a hand mirror.

For our pandemic warriors

Bandra's Linking Road has got a large installation that pays homage to frontline workers. Appropriately named COVID Warrior Memorial, the piece was unveiled on June 29. Its auteur, Minali Thakkar, an art consultant and director of the art advisory firm Art Approach, shared that she was inspired by the valour displayed by frontline workers during these grave times. "Doctors, nurses, the police, safai karmacharis, media professionals and engineers - they stood like a rock for mankind, working selflessly for the greater good," she told this diarist.

Thakkar added that her concept has a globe as the central element, while her sense of gratitude is expressed by etching out the words Thank You in various languages. There are also hand symbols that depict the contribution of everyone who joined hands in this battle, while the leaves are symbolic of life. Keeping in mind various factors such as traffic rules, Covid-19 protocols, vandalism, footfalls, detailing and permissions from civic authorities, the 17-foot-tall project was completed in a span of nine months.

Hail this innovator

Shiv Kampani, a 17-year-old Prabhadevi resident has been honoured with The Diana Award in recognition of his contributions towards creating positive change. Kampani, a prodigious innovator, is the founder of several remarkable products that address pertinent social challenges. "I first created an IoT-enabled gas detector to protect homes from fires caused by such leaks," he shared. He then turned his sights to manual scavenging, and has created a robotic solution for sanitation workers to clean drains. This, he believes, addresses the dual challenges of caste and hygiene, given that most workers are from lower castes. During the pandemic, he created a virtual visual map to depict hotspots and facilitate contact tracing, and has joined hands with an NGO to create a learning solution. About the award, Kampani believes that it will enable him to collaborate with like-minded organisations to make an even larger impact.

Sixteen years of a deli good idea

All-day café and restaurant Indigo Delicatessen yesterday marked 16 years of service since its first outpost cropped up in Colaba in 2005. At the time, it was among the first to offer an informal, quintessential deli experience in the city. Since then, the team has ferried the deli vibe to Pune, New Delhi and Gurgaon, shared Anurag Katriar, ED & CEO, deGustibus Hospitality, which runs the restaurant. It also launched a new global menu in 2019, moving away from typical deli fare. Looking back at their journey, Katriar recalled, "Over the years, the biggest takeaway for us has been that consistency is key. We achieve that by creating most of our base products in-house, such as sauces, breads, jellies and ice-cream. As long as you promise consistency, it helps to build your brand."

Oh fish, that's big

Early on Wednesday, a big fish had washed up near the Girgaum Chowpatty shore sometime between late morning and early afternoon. Fisherman Hiralal Wadkar said the fish was not snared in any fishing nets; it had washed ashore close to where work is underway for the Coastal Road project. "It looks like a dolphin and is at least three feet in length, but I cannot be certain," said Wadkar, who has spent close to five decades in the sea. "The civic authorities should be carting it away shortly," he shared.

Vax woes run high in the city

The Akanksha Foundation, a non-profit, has conducted a two-city survey to better gauge the proliferation and reasons underlying vaccine hesitancy in the urban slums of Mumbai and Pune. "We have been engaged in vaccination drives in several wards. Early in May, we anecdotally picked up some reluctance in taking the jab and wanted to establish if this was a pertinent concern. We joined hands with seven other NGOs to conduct a quantitative and qualitative survey involving 3,500 people," said Saurabh Taneja, its CEO. The survey found that 17 per cent of the respondents had taken at least one dose, which was less than the city average of around 26 percent, at that time. Nearly one in two people were fairly under-confident and unwilling to take the vaccine. Once the supply has picked up, taking the number of vaccinated people to the critical threshold of 70-75 per cent will be an uphill battle for the administration, Taneja explained. They have proposed a city-wide awareness campaign in partnership with the government that will ensure that the right messages are disseminated by local influencers to these communities.