Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Circles of colour

People hustle to buy flowers to prepare for today's Anant Chaturdashi celebrations at the flower market outside Dadar West railway station.

At the heart of Ganeshotsav

Musicians playing bhajans at pandals. ILLUSTRATION/@sukhada_avinash

What makes Ganesh Chaturthi the grand festival that it is? After launching artistic inquiries into the fervour behind the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav celebrations, Pune-based artist Sukhada Bhave-Kelkar (below) concluded at its source - the people embracing various festive roles. "On Ganesh Chaturthi day, we conduct the pran pratistha puja, the ritual where we sprinkle life into the Ganesha idol.

To me, this pran is visible to the people participating in the festival. I witness it when I visit various pandals," Kelkar told this diarist. To capture this energy, the illustrator began photographing vendors selling flowers, coconut and modaks, as well as public service providers like policemen and firefighters, and musicians playing bhajans and devotees. She used these as a source of inspiration to sketch and illustrate her subjects. The artworks have come together to form a series called Energy behind Festival. View this ongoing series @sukhada_avinash on Instagram.

A new era

The mosque that was built in 1926 has served as the Dawoodi Bohra community's primary place of worship in Mumbai

Mumbai's Dawoodi Bohra community's Saifee Masjid that was being renovated as part of the redevelopment project undertaken by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), was recently inaugurated by His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin. It has been reconstructed to its original form, with a few new amenities. "There's indigenous Indian and Islamic architecture; the two minarets have beautiful ornamentation; and the Burmese teakwood from the original masjid has been reused," a representative from SBUT told us.

LEGO cha raja

Varun Gupta's AI LEGO Ganpati artwork

Ganeshotsav is when we see the city's creativity reach its peak. Amid idols of paper, reused plastic bottles, clay and even rice grains, artist Varun Gupta's (inset) recent AI LEGO Ganpati idol certainly is trending as one a big draw this year.

"Like the festival, LEGO is an activity that is enjoyed by people across age groups. I took nearly two days to create five of these in different settings," he revealed. To see more, log on to @aalsiyoulater.

Vada pav, again?

In April, this newspaper had written about the ulta vada pav served by Mee Atmanirbhar Vadapavwale at a stall in Malad, started by a young duo Kajal Shetty and Ankita Thakur. So, we were happy to learn that the duo will be opening a new store in Kandivli's Charkop neighbourhood today. "We are excited, and are hoping that people will love and accept this unique dish, just like our patrons in Malad. At this new store, we have even displayed a copy of mid-day's issue (circled) where our Malad stall was featured," Shetty told this diarist.

Get lit in the city

A moment from the walk

From Mark Twain to Rudyard Kipling, down to Salman Rushdie, Mumbai boasts of a literary connection that could put William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha to shame. But tracing these words through the winding lanes of the city can be a journey in itself. Two years after their launch, the community of readers at Read A Kitab, decided to do just that with a walk last Sunday. "We started at Pancham Puriwala that stands at what was once the gates of the eponymous Fort. It was mentioned by Rudyard Kipling's father in his writings," shared Ekta Bhandari, co-founder of Read A Kitab. With two walks completed, Bhandari shared that the community plans to make it a regular practice to hold a session every month. "This city has such a rich literary tradition that we found it necessary to explore it," she said.