Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Bus, bhagwan ka naam lo

Two women travelling past Siddhivinayak temple offer prayers to Lord Ganesha on Angarki Chaturthi, a day dedicated to the Elephant God, on Tuesday.

Quilting for a cause

We had written on this page about India's Karuna Quilt Project, a global initiative to donate handmade quilts to frontline workers during the pandemic. With a goal of making 1,000 quilts by August 15, 2021, to coincide with India's 75th Independence Day, they've currently reached 500 quilts. They're now inviting everyone to get involved, to help them meet their target. "Designers and students can contribute 12.5 inches x 12.5 inches squares that will go towards making a quilt. Quilters or sewing experts can create traditional and simple quilt blocks that can be assembled into single quilts right away. Else, they can help by contributing fabrics or finished quilts," said its founder Taruna Sethi.

Calcutta to Venice

Here's a filmmaker who is definitely a talent to watch out for. After winning the Best Debut award at the Venice International Film festival for his first feature, Labour of Love, Aditya Vikram Sengupta is now returning to the same prestigious event with his third film, Once Upon a Time in Calcutta, which has been nominated in the Horizons section for international cinema.

A still from Once Upon a Time in Calcutta

"This film is a culmination of personal feelings and emotions for the city of Calcutta and its people, especially as it tries to catch up to the rapidly changing world. Leveraging real characters and actual events, the film is my effort to chip away the various layers of the previously communist city to reveal a human condition that is tragic and yet full of hope and joy," Sengupta told this diarist.

Indian-origin writer on Booker list

Desi literati has much to cheer as Sunjeev Sahota has made it to the 2021 Booker Prize longlist for China Room, a sharp portrayal that follows two characters in pre-Independence India and how they grapple with their struggles and realisations. Sahota had previously made it to the Man Booker Prize 2015 shortlist for The Year of the Runaways. This diarist recalls interviewing him in 2013 after he was picked as Granta's Best Young British Novelist. He made a shocking admission at the time - that it wasn't until he was 18 that he picked up reading a book. He chose Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children at an airport lounge en route to visit family in India. He said, "The writing part isn't fun, though it does get better once I've got that first draft down." This year's longlist includes heavyweights like The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (in pic, below) and Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun. The shortlist will be revealed on September 14 while the winner will be announced on November 3. The winner will receive £50,000 while each shortlisted author will be awarded £2,500.

Millennial eye

India is one of the youngest countries in the world, with millennials accounting for a large part. Naturally, their choices will heavily impact local, regional and global politics and economics. But what is it that they want? In What Millennials Want (Viking) that releases on August 30, policy entrepreneur and journalist Vivan Marwaha digs into what makes them tick. "I began this project three years ago to document the aspirations and anxieties of Indian millennials - the world's single largest demographic group. But back then, we didn't have much data or reportage on those in India's heartland. My fieldwork - over 900 interviews with millennials, educators, business leaders and policymakers across 13 states - took me across India as I sought to understand the economic, social and political consequences of this diverse generation," he told us.

Anand wins at Eisner Awards

Mumbai-based artist Anand Radhakrishnan has won the equivalent of the Oscars of the comics world. Along with UK-based John Pearson, he has been given the Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) prize at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards in the US. The duo won the honour for their graphic novel Blue in Green. It was the brainchild of Ram V, who wrote the story and also lives in the UK. "It's about the perils of finding creative genius, which comes at a cost," Radhakrishnan (in pic) shared about the graphic novel's plot.