Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

A ride to the anime verse

A child looks out of a window of a BEST bus that sports famous anime characters Kafka, Reno and Kikoru from manga series Kaiku No 8

Century-old Maharashtrian lovebirds

A moment from the video; (left) Ramdas Padhye with the puppets

For his recent post, famous ventriloquist Satyajeet Padhye introduced his viewers to a set of puppets - Ardhavatrao and Awadabai. "What you see in the video are puppets that are 104 years old," revealed Satyajit's father Ramdas. "I was only six or seven years old when I would play with these puppets created by my father, Yeshwant [Satyajit's grandfather] in 1917," Ramdas said. "I took these puppets on a show for CBS in the USA in 1972. I became the first Indian ventriloquist to perform for the platform. As soon as I returned, Doordarshan invited me to host a regular show with them," he recalled. To this end, Satyajit said that it was important for the current generation to get to know the famous couple of the 1970s. The father-son duo made them perform a romantic sequence on a song, which received over 70 thousand views in two days.

Celebs have fun with colours

Mahek Jain with Rohit Saraf (right) Rohan Shah tries his hands at spray painting

At a recent event in Bandra Kurla Complex, Girgaon-based art community Justlittlethingsss' pop-up stall became a celebrity favourite. The group witnessed actors like Rohit Saraf, Rohan Shah and Sania Malhotra stop by to try their hands at the activities. "We had many activities to choose from. But a natural favourite for most is either hair braiding, spray painting or face glitters. The trio tried spray painting their caps, because it is also the quickest and the most engaging activity to try out at such gatherings. They were really nice, and we even clicked pictures together," founder Mahek Jain revealed.

When Lagaan met AI

The artworks reimagine Indian cricket players in Lagaan

In AI (Artificial Intelligence) artist Sahid SK's (inset) new art series, the Indian cricket team is all set for the ongoing T20 World Cup. However, something is amiss - the blue jersey is replaced by kurta pajamas, and instead of a stadium, cricketers like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma find themselves on the arid, dusty ground in the village of Champaner.

"I recently discovered that Lagaan [2001] had completed 20 years. With the ongoing World Cup, I felt that the best way to pay a tribute to it would be to recreate a few scenes from the film, and replace the original characters with the current players of the Indian team," Sahid told this diarist over a phone call.

In the artworks, Virat Kolhi replaces Aamir Khan's character Bhuvan. Other players featured include Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Sanju Samson. You will also find Anushka Sharma playing Gauri, while prime minister Narendra Modi takes the role of the umpire.

Crochet over chai

Chandraprabha Parihar (centre) with young volunteers

For 70-year-old Chandraprabha Parihar, crocheting is more than a trend. The Panvel-based resident, who recently launched her brand, Nayher, spent an afternoon crocheting with young volunteers of city-based senior citizen companionship programme, Goodfellows, last weekend. "I grew up in Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh where we learnt sewing, and embroidery at a very young age. I had fun sharing my story and learnings with the young volunteers over a cup of tea. They seemed to love a sunflower that I had crocheted earlier. So, we all made more sunflowers together," she told this diarist.