Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Train for a fitter tomorrow
Women passengers squeeze in some yoga on the way from Borivali to Churchgate on International Women's Day.

In the spotlight

Danish Husain will be part of the fest

Regional writers add a multi-coloured dimension to the vast bouquet of Indian literature. An event called Spotlight Literature Festival now aims to highlight their contributions. The virtual fest from March 12 to 14, will feature 70 writers, including political analyst Preethi Nagraj, poet Nabina Das, and Danish Husain, a practitioner of dastangoi. The event's theme is Breaking the regional barrier. Speaking about what the key takeaways for the audience will be, Dr Shilpa Ramesh Ramani, co-founder of One Page Spotlight that is organising the festival, said, "They will gain first-hand insight and observations from our authors and speakers in a format that is no less than a masterclass. This will also help individuals to boost their morale and be more creative, enabling them to chase their dream of becoming a writer and pursuing it to the next level." Log on to openpagespotlight.com to book a seat.

Art on the roundtable

The first Open Circle discussion at G5A

Open Circle is a new initiative by the Mahalaxmi-based G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture that attempts to encourage a dialogue to build an arts and culture ecosystem that is vibrant, safe and resilient. Their first edition, which took place ahead of International Women's Day, brought together women leaders from diverse fields including Stefania Costanza, Consul General of Italy, Mumbai; founder Anuradha Parikh; Manisha Mhaiskar, chief of protocol, Maharashtra government; dhrupad vocalist Pelva Naik; actor Rytasha Rathore; Manjeet Kirpalani, co-founder, Gateway House; Swati Apte, founder, The Arts Foundation and Priyanka Patel from G5A. Together, they discussed how art and artists need to be supported. Costanza shared, "Art is about complexity. It is about understanding things in a way that there is an emotional connection. Women, most of the time, are complex. We bring our own complexities [without labels, with only articulation], onto the floor." Rathore, meanwhile pointed out that as artists and educated, privileged women, "the onus lies upon us of where we take the conversation as a generation and the main struggle for us to find that balance between culture, craft, and commerce."

Kunal's packed it all in a book

If you've been following celebrity chef Kunal Kapur on social media, you'll know that his culinary style is one that draws from our desi, domestic kitchens. The chef is now going to offer us a peak into the dining table conversations and the tips and tricks he picked up from his grandfather's kitchen in a new book that packs in 15 family recipes. Titled Kunal Kapur In The Kitchen (Om Books International), it's set to hit the shelves on March 15. About the title, he told this diarist, "I am somebody who loves to travel and research on food, ingredients and the different styles of cooking. Indian food is all about sitting down and having meals together and the best way to represent this was to develop meals that a family could enjoy cooking at home together. These 15 meals are sure to excite you, and at the same time, show you different flavour combinations that are possible using common ingredients available in your kitchens."

Word on representation

Art+Feminism is an international community that works towards bridging the information gap about gender, feminism and arts on the Internet through an annual edit-a-thon. This entails adding content on Wikipedia about female artists who aren't as represented as their male counterparts. In India, digital platform The Heritage Lab is taking on the mantle as the South Asia ambassador, inviting people to join in on an online edit-a-thon throughout March. On March 20, a physical event with limited participation will also be held in the city at the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation at CSMVS. Speaking about the idea behind it, founder Medhavi Gandhi (in pic) said, "As a platform, Wikipedia's gender gap problems are well-documented. Because they have few female editors and even fewer from the arts space, women artists are hardly featured on it. In the last three years, we've actually had to create pages for renowned artists like Mrinalini Mukherjee."