Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

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A woman poses for two eager shutterbugs at a beach in Malad West.

Meet Rani Solomon

Most of us know of advertising and theatre personalities Alyque Padamsee, Dolly Thakore and their son, Quasar Thakore Padamsee. But Quasar recently shared a photo of a comparatively lesser-known, but equally prolific relative of his - Rani Solomon, his mother's aunt. Solomon is 97 years old. Now, here's a cool fact: she once used to be Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi's Hindi tutor, after they started being home-schooled once Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister. Dolly's recent book - Regrets, None - is partly dedicated to her, and Quasar's photo was one of Solomon holding a copy. "I recently got to know that she knew about the book a year before I did, and even read a draft. That's how important she is to my mother," he shared.

The writing is on the wall

Since 2019, graffiti agency Wicked Broz has been organising the Ladies First Street Art festival, a women-only art initiative that invites female artists and illustrators from around the world to draw murals and artworks in public spaces. In 2022, they will host the next edition of the festival, and this time, the event spans 10 Indian cities. To get things rolling, the organisation has put out a call for volunteers, to help build the foundation of the festival curation process. "When we did this for the first time, it was a really cool experience because the people who lived in the buildings were painting and stepped up to volunteer. Because of the pandemic, we were unable to do this last year; so to make up for it, we've expanded our plans this time. We already have artist communities in Mumbai, Dehradun and Gurugram, and now, we'll be adding more to the list. We want people who run artist communities to join us, as well as volunteers who are able to help us raise funds and create artist communities," said Omkar Dhareshwar, co-founder of Wicked Broz. To register, send an email to ladiesfirststreetart@gmail.com.

Cafe Mysore's newest fans

Matunga's iconic South Indian eatery, Cafe Mysore, has found two more additions to its already-large fan base, which has in the past included the likes of Mukesh Ambani. The newest fans seem to be Union Ministers Smriti Z Irani and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who dropped by on Monday afternoon from Dharavi. Naresh, son of owner Shanteri Nayak, confirmed the visit. "I think Irani heard of Café Mysore, as I believe her husband is from Parsi Colony. Both ministers ordered Mysore masala dosa, rava dosa, pineapple sheera, rasam vada and coffee. They picked a table and had their meal just like our regular patrons. They were very happy with the experience," Nayak revealed. Before leaving, Irani also grabbed a pack of their wafers.

50 shades of music

Independent musicians, it's time to set your clocks in order. The India Music Project - an offshoot of the annual India Film Project - is calling for entries for its 50-hour music-making challenge. Those who sign up will be given a theme on which they have to make a track in one of five genres - pop, rock, folk-fusion, hip-hop and electronica - within that stipulated time frame. "We are expecting about 20,000 entries and the jury consists of people who independent musicians look up to," shared IFP founder Ritam Bhatnagar. Those interested can register at indiafilmproject.co/50hour-music.

Book this library

The Share A Book India Association (SABIA), in collaboration with Instagram artist @smishdesigns, is conducting a flash book sale this Friday to raise money for setting up free community libraries across the country. SABIA director and co-founder Srishti Parihar told this diarist, "We used to have physical book sales to raise money for this, but because of the pandemic, we've had to shift operations online. This set involves 10 to 12 books. We have collaborated with Smish before, and for this flash book sale, we're hoping that her social media presence will help us sell the titles." To purchase the books, check out @shareabookindia on Instagram.