Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Anant Ambani with girlfriend Radhika Merchant

Hand-ling with care
Is that love in the eyes of Radhika Merchant, Anant Ambani's girlfriend, during an inauguration in BKC on Wednesday? Pic/Shadab Khan

Pulwama raises an unlikely stink
There have been many different fallouts of the Pulwama attack. And worryingly, Kashmiris in different states have faced a backlash. But a social media post that chef Vicky Ratnani put up recently highlighted a lesser-known after-effect of the heinous attack. He shared about how a cheese-maker friend based in Pahalgam, a Dutchman called Chris Zandee, suddenly has no takers for his cheese from across the country.

"What is being seen as a terrorist strike by his customers in the rest of the country has very little bearing on a few cows in the mountains of Pahalgam and on the desperately poor dairy farmers who are part of his cooperative," he wrote. When this diarist reached out to him, he added, "I was only trying to help the people there [by asking his followers to order for Zandee's cheese]. The cheese is really good. Chris supplies to a lot of hotels. And when I got a message in a WhatsApp group highlighting this issue, I thought I might as well put up the post because I had their cheese just four days ago, and it really is
very good."

A quest in Kolkata
A 10-year-old in Kolkata who lives with his grand-aunt gets a letter from her on his 10th birthday. It's something his father had left for him before abandoning the family. But the words are in Urdu. The boy can't read the language. In the meantime, he has a tiff with his grand-aunt.

So, he sets off with that letter and traverses the streets of Kolkata trying to find out about his dad's whereabouts. That, in a nutshell, is the plot line of Chippa, a Hindi film by Mumbai-based Safdar Rahman, which has been selected for The Indian Film Festival Los Angeles. "The story tracks the child on that one night when he meets different people while trying to search for his father," Rahman told us. But is the kid successful in his quest? The answer, we feel, is that it's best to watch the film.

When a world of good comes out of music
Here's heart-warming news from Mumbai's music community. Gatecrash, an artist curating agency, has joined hands with NGO CORP to launch Music Mulakatein, an initiative that takes city musicians to various slums to inspire kids. The latest segment featured local band Laxmi Bomb's interactions with children at Darukhana in Southeast Mumbai.

Laxmi Bomb members interact with kids at Darukhana

Drummer Levin Mendes said, "We played for an hour, and found two kids on the spot who are rappers, one of whom was really cool." Here's hoping that more musicians contribute to this sort of initiative.

Did you forget something in the cab?
There are countless cases of people booking a cab via online aggregators, and then leaving their belongings behind in the taxi. One such company recently released data about what these items usually tend to be, and which Indian cities are the most forgetful.

Predictably, phones and cameras rank as the objects most likely to be forgotten, while Mumbai ranks third on the list of forgetful cities, after Bengaluru and Delhi. But if you thought it's only everyday objects that are on the list, you're mistaken. Some passengers have left behind baby prams, knee caps, and even live fish!

In the spotlight
The British Council has launched a campaign, #SheLeads, where it hand-picks and puts the spotlight on noteworthy female artists from different cities around the world. Three youngsters from Mumbai have made it to this list.

Aqui Thami, Pranita Kocharekar and Zeenat Kulavoor

They are Zeenat Kulavoor, Pranita Kocharekar and Aqui Thami. The Council has posted lengthy captions on social media detailing their story.

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