Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Take a breather

Defence force personnel perform a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Maharashtra Day parade at Shivaji Park in Dadar

It's a hat-trick

Suresh Raina at the Colaba eatery

Retired Indian cricketer Suresh Raina scored a hat-trick at Colaba's Bagdadi. "He has been coming by for meals for the past three days!" revealed Saud Ahmed, son of the current owner, Atique Ahmed. While last weekend, Raina dropped by for a meal at the adda, he ordered a takeout yesterday. "The [ongoing] IPL has brought Raina back to the city. So, he decided to drop by for a meal. He ordered a nihari chicken and shami kababs," Ahmed revealed. The cricketer is now in the long list of celebrity fans of the restaurant, which include John Abraham, Bharti Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Remo D'Souza, among others. "Most of these celebrities had humble beginnings; Bagdadi was a natural, economical choice. They keep coming back for the nostalgia. It helps that the taste hasn't changed either," he added.

Goa to Mumbai

People celebrate the festival with Goan traditions on Dharavi island

The Goan Outreach Association Mumbai is all set to celebrate the São João festival in the city. On June 23, members of the community will come together for a day at Ferreira Farm Residency in Manori with their floral tiaras, dresses and shirts. "The association was launched in 1961 with the aim of reconnecting the people who had settled in Mumbai with their Goan culture. In 2011, it became a charitable trust. The proceeds of all cultural events go towards charity," shared co-founder and trustee Sebastian Sequeira.

The event, he added, will bring alive the traditions of the Goan celebration. "Indulge in Goan food, and water-based activities and many games. We expect over 1,500 people for this celebration every year. This time, we have invited the legendary Goan singer Alfred Rose's son, Engelbert, and daughter, Alria, to perform," he told this diarist.

A musical tale across two cities

Two months after city-based music producer Krunal Ghorpade AKA Kratex set out to find Marathi artistes to collaborate with under his music label MHouse, fans already have a new release to look forward to. Shreyas Sagvekar (below) of the Pune-based hip-hop duo Shreyas and Vedang has joined forces with Ghorpade to release Taambdi Chaamdi, a rap track with hints of house music, later this week. "The song was written for a film that unfortunately never saw the light of day. We decided to rework on it and release it as a single under my label," Ghorpade revealed over a call from his home studio in Virar. For Sagvekar, the song marks yet another experiment in infusing rap into other genres. "The song is extremely close to my heart. It speaks about finding pride in being dark-skinned. Melanin has historically been a marker of toiling under the sun to earn an honest living. Why must we look at it with disgust?" Sagvekar concluded.

For he's a jolly good yellow

The beautiful rain predictor in full bloom at the Dadar garden

As you go through life, take time to smell the flowers' goes the philosophical adage. We simply want to shout out: ‘For he's a jolly good yellow' when we spot the trees in bloom at the Pramod Mahajan Udyan in Dadar. Bahava, also known as the golden shower tree, is a flowering tree that is native to India, Malaysia, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The scientific name is Cassia Fistula, and it is the official state flower of Kerala and Thailand. It can grow up to 30 to 40 ft tall. While the sunny, egg-yolk yellow is stunning, lore also says there is a belief amongst Mumbaikars that when the Bahava starts to bloom, it is a signal that the rains are just 40 days away.

Ace your skill set

A child conducts an experiment

To encourage children to learn through practice, Nehru Science Centre and Bombay Association for Science Education have introduced a certificate test titled Test your Experimental Skills. "Children from eighth to 12th grades will sit in batches of 20 every month and perform an experiment given to them on a lucky draw basis. Observers will mark them on the basis of their performance. This includes the way they choose to conduct their experiments, if they are able to take the right readings, make graphs and charts. Only if the students score 75 per cent and above will they qualify to receive the certificate," shared Manjula Yadav, education officer, Nehru Science Centre. All children, irrespective of whether they qualify, will be given feedback post the test.