06 July,2021 07:05 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Atul Kamble
A hip-hop dancer finds unwitting admirers in a pair of onlookers, at Five Gardens in Matunga.
Learning platform grade1to6.com has developed a set of low-cost PDF workbooks for English and Maths that can be accessed by learners across the country to strengthen their basics. "We started catering to the IB and CBSE curriculum. However, during the pandemic, we realised that digital learning would continue to be a reality for children for a while, and wanted to extend our reach to a wider category of learners," explains Balaji V, its founder and CEO. The idea behind creating PDFs was to minimise the use of data for students once the workbooks (100 to 200 pages each) are downloaded. They're priced at Rs 10. At present, workbooks up to class seven have been released, which will be followed by material for students up to class 12.
Bandra's Subko Cafe offers a 10 per cent discount to patrons using their own mugs. Pic/Instagram
Begun in 2011, the #plasticfreejuly challenge has expanded across countries and continents, with 2020 participants reducing their household waste and recycling by almost 21 kg per annually, shares Restore, a Mumbai-based sustainable products company. In keeping with their theme, they've shared a list of 10 coffee shops in the city, which allow you to take away coffee in your own mug. Topping the list is Kala Ghoda Cafe, which incentivises this with a 15 per cent discount. Subko Cafe and Boojee Cafe come second with a 10 per cent discount. Check out the list at @join_restore on Instagram.
With her distinctive visuals and poignant lyrics, Billie Eilish is one of the most influential musical icons of the 21st century. Her 2019 album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the US as well as 17 additional countries. And now, fans across the world have a chance to peek into her journey via a book titled By - Billie Eilish (Hachette). In it, the singer has put together a visual narrative with hundreds of photos. She says that the book offers glimpses into her childhood, her life on tour, and more.
Last year, we introduced our readers to the adventures of India's female inspector, Persis Wadia, who writer Vaseem Khan brought to life in his whodunit, Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton). Khan is best known for his five-part Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series, and this crime fiction thriller set in the late 1940s, was the first of a three-part series. It followed Wadia's adventures in solving the murder of a British diplomat. Last week, the title won the coveted Sapere Books Historical Dagger, the biggest historical crime fiction prize in the world. "I'm gobsmacked but grateful to all who've made me feel welcome in this industry, 30 years after I wrote my first [unpublished] book," he said, over the win. Khan also works at the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College in London.
Our congratulations.
The independent music business in India is now big enough for corporate brands, from clothes to motorcycles, to start investing in it. But that wasn't the case in the early 1990s when a young man from Allahabad, Amit Saigal, would get shunted out of venues if he played originals instead of covers. Saigal realised that there was an untapped market for indie music, which was still in a nascent phase in India. So, he launched the country's first magazine for independent music, Rock Street Journal (RSJ); organising the Great Indian Rock festival, which encouraged bands to play original compositions; and later hosting India Music Week. That sowed the seeds of the burgeoning indie scene today, and on his birth anniversary today (Saigal passed away in 2012), a Clubhouse meeting will be organised by RSJ in his memory. "Whatever you see in the Indian scene today is all thanks to him," its executive editor Bann Chakraborty told this diarist. All we can say is, thank you for the music.
