26 August,2021 06:36 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
A man carries a wooden frame through Shivaji Park on Wednesday.
Nature enthusiasts and adivasi members of Aarey celebrated Rakshabandhan by tying rakhi around plants in the urban forest. Vriksha Bandhan involved tying rakhis made of areca plates painted with Warli motifs, said Sushant Bali from the Youth For Aarey group, which participated in the celebration. He added that they hoped to highlight some pressing issues: "The new state government promised to declare Aarey a protected forest, but only 800 acres has been declared. Despite the government claiming that the former metro car shed will be dismantled, it's not been done yet. We've sent them a letter saying we're happy to restore the area, but haven't heard back."
Charlie Watts passed away yesterday. Keith Richards is still alive, as is Mick Jagger. The sense of loss that they must be feeling about Watts is unimaginable. Watts was the drummer-cum-core member of one of the greatest rock ân' roll bands of all time, The Rolling Stones, of which Jagger is the singer and Richards the guitarist. When this diarist called Kahini Panjabi, a drummer on the indie music scene, she heard the news of Watts's death for the first time. Her sense of loss was also real. "This really feels that the world is coming to an end," were the first words she said. "If Charlie Watts dies, anything can happen," she continued. Name a Rolling Stones song if you know one. Whichever one it is, the person behind the drums in that song, Watts, will never keep the beat again, and that's sad. But that's also how life is. Watts was 80 years old. He lived life to the fullest. So, let's not mourn his death, let's celebrate his life. Play a Rolling Stones song today in his memory, and let's make it count forever.
Yesterday marked the passing of American-born Indian sociologist and human rights activist Gail Omvedt (in pic), who is remembered for her books on the anti-caste movement and women's struggles in India. Omvedt became an Indian citizen in 1983 and lived in rural Maharashtra. Sunday mid-day columnist Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre, who had written about a book named Culturally Correct: Why We Chose The Buddha, to which Omvedt contributed a seminal chapter, spoke of her as being "in a league of her own, a scholar who understood India in its entirety like Maxine Berntsen, the American-born linguist, or [late] Eleanor Zelliot, another American writer specialising in Indian history." She added, "In the '80s, I often saw Gail at our women's rights congregations. In addition to her unique perspective, she would converse in very cute-sounding Marathi, which endeared her to us."
Having aced the roles of actor and mother, Kalki Koechlin has now trained her sights on writing, with her new graphic narrative titled The Elephant in the Womb. About the book, Koechlin told us, "While struggling with pregnancy and my new role as a mother, it was my friends who helped me by sharing their rough times and dark phases⦠journaling and doodling through my experience of having a baby, I found my own version of unutterable truths unfolding." The title is pegged to be a funny and relatable account of pregnancy and parenting for mothers and aspiring and expectant mothers. It touches upon hot topics such as the social stigma of abortions and unmarried pregnancies, the toll that pregnancy takes on a body, the unacknowledged domestic labour of women, and the emotional rollercoaster of giving birth.
Poet Charles Bukowski may have described love as a dog from hell, but as per Indian singles, man's best friend can very well help him (or her) find love. Data shared by the dating app OkCupid on International Dog Day (August 26) reveals that 67 per cent of users would either love to have a furry friend, or already do. Daters also have a soft spot for rescued animals, with 81 per cent users saying that they would date a person who rescues stray animals and brings them home. Confirming this further, 66 per cent preferred to adopt a pet rather than purchase one from a breeder.
