Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

Having a crack at it

A contract worker breaks a concrete pipe at Girgaon Chowpatty

Taj on my lens

A screengrab of the video shows Neeraj Gupta talking to Siddhesh Lokare

It was like any other day for UP-based Neeraj Gupta, who stands outside The Gateway of India, with the Taj Mahal Hotel façade in the background, clicking photos of tourists to make a living. But digital creator Siddhesh Lokare turned his day upside down when he took Gupta inside the Taj for a meal. "I have always been in front of the camera, so I know how tough it is, and absolutely respect the work," Lokare told this diarist. He made a sweet video that captured Gupta's overwhelming experience. Gupta even video-called his family living in a village, as he found it unbelievable.

Fishing for fascinating data

Squids being measured to check if they fall under the minimum legal size set by authorities. Pic Courtesy/Instagram

The annual fishing ban due to the marine breeding season has ended, and trawlers are now back in the sea. This year, the fishing season is special, Ganesh Nakhawa, a member of the Koli community told this diarist, "Because several seafood certification and rating agencies will be studying the catch from these trawlers. The aim is to obtain certification for exporting squids, croakers, groupers, perches, and other seafood from India." There are hardly any regulations in place for trawlers, which over the years has resulted in overfishing. "Due to this, several international bodies refused to buy fish from Indian fisherfolk," he said. The fishing industry across the West Coast has been working in tandem with several NGOs to collect data as to how the use of square mesh nets in trawlers make their fishing sustainable."What happens when these nets are used is that small fish escape through them, and only medium to large-sized catches are found," he explained. For nearly seven years now, states on the West Coast have been using square mesh nets for trawling, but its widespread implementation is still not fully adopted. "It will be interesting to see how these efforts will benefit everyone," he said.

The Husain effect

A fictional account of late MF Husian

Had the master artist MF Husain been alive, what would he write in his bio? That's what Nivedita Poddar is asking on Art Fervour, an arts discovery platform, where one can find gems of South Asian art. "We do a lot of audience engagement and development on our platform and we want to familiarise people with modern contemporary Indian art and its masters. There are several art enthusiasts, but they may not know much about it. We have these cool games for them so that they can learn and participate," the founder told this diarist. "He had an illustrious career and an interesting life, and his work has been widely popular," she added. The best caption writer wins cool merchandise.

Breaking through big league

It looks like the revolution is spreading. Anand Gandhi's Memesys Studios celebrated a big win in mid July at the Games for Change Festival in New York. The festival set aside their creation, SHASN:AZADI, as the best tabletop game. The latest evolution of their board game, it taps into a gameplay that involves revolutionary campaigns in history. "Winning this award is the community's resounding validation that we are on the right path," said founder Gandhi. The award was the first win by an Indian game in 20 years at the gaming festival. Zain Memon (left), co-creator noted, "The West is now looking towards India for the next big idea."

BTS army, show some love

K-Pop fans are in for a treat. Last month saw the release of the book Beyond The Story by BTS and Myeongseok Kang; which has received a record-breaking response. As a big thank you, Pan Macmillan India, who published the book in India, are giving a chance to the BTS army to tell the world what they liked about the book, a chance to get featured on social media and get a collection of special seven photocards. "The idea was to interact with all the readers who have shown a lot of excitement around this book," Rajdeep Mukherjee, its managing director, told this diarist.