Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

A match made in Bandra

Having tied the knot on Valentine's Day, a couple walks out of the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bandra

Come on, Mumbai

The al fresco dining space in Kasba

A sweet happening in the east made this diarist hope for similar old-school ways of celebrating love in Mumbai. For couples who are in Kolkata this season, Manzilat's in Kasba has the perfect setting prepared for Valentine's Day. The terrace dining space helmed by home chef Manzilat Fatima is currently sporting red furnishings, paper hearts, themed bibelots and fairy lights. But the cherry on the cake is an acoustic guitar with a placard that encourages diners to play it. "The guitar had been lying around in the house for far too long. It belonged to my daughters who have now moved to Mumbai. For a romantic addition to the area, I thought of getting it serviced and polished," revealed Fatima. To keep in tune with the revelries, her khus ka sherbet on the menu has been replaced by roohafza.

Woman power

Mallika Sagar shows Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy's silverware at an auction held at Pundole's in 2017. File pic (right) Dadiba Pundole

Even as all eyes were glued to the winning bids for Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry and Co at the Women's Premier League (WPL) auction on Monday, Mallika Sagar's poise stole the show. Gallerist Dadiba Pundole who knows Sagar as the in-house auctioneer for Pundole's, shared, "It's apt that a female auctioneer conducted this auction." Praising her as the best auctioneer in the country, Pundole said she deserves a shot at the men's IPL auction next time. And we can't wait to witness that.

A useful grain of thought

Student volunteers with grain collections

The students of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association's Sathaye College - under the National Service Scheme (NSS) - recently launched a campaign called Ek Mutthi Anaj. Professor Vinod Gaware shared with this diarist, "Grains collected through the drive will be donated to Lokanayak Jayaprakash Narayan Leprosy Eradication Trust. We have been working with the trust since 1994. The idea is to collect daily utilities for leprosy patients. We accept only goods, and every fist - whatever its capacity - counts." Interested contributors can get in touch with volunteers on 9004772628.

Time is money

The meme posted by @humansofcorporate on Instagram

Money management platform Fi.money and meme handle Humans of Corporate have come up with a unique idea to compensate netizens for the time they have wasted on their former partners. Assuming the comments thread to be their ex's DM, the drive urges users to ask for a refund for lost time. Fourteen followers with the highest likes have been promised a #relationshiprefund. While people did not hold back, a comment that made this diarist chuckle, read, "Like my ex could manage the math on that."

Champions of green growth

Ayadi Mishra (right) Sneha Shahi

It's good to witness women-led initiatives at the national level. Recently, 10 diverse organisations came together to launch the Women Climate Collective (WCC) - a community consisting of 16 women champions across different Indian states, seeking to increase the representation of women's perspectives in climate matters. The WCC champions belong to varied sectors - from grassroots climate storytelling, clean air solutions and sustainable architecture to waste management and agriculture. Ayadi Mishra, a champion and co-chair at We are Tomorrow-global partnership from Indore, said, "Over the decades, climate change has shifted from a future to a present threat, where vulnerable communities are facing the brunt of it. WCC is important to realise collective action, exchange of information, and that women can empower each other through shared knowledge in this domain." Supporting Mishra's views, Sneha Shahi, a researcher at Atree, said that the platform will help her bring forward gender and climate discourse and create safe spaces for women to discuss climate change and their stories of action.