Don’t Miss today

Le Printemps

Paint with a knife

Attend a painting party by Paintology, where you will be guided at every step to achieve an Italian inspired artwork. You will be taught how to use a knife to paint on a canvas.
Where: Chaayos, BKC
When: March 20, 3 PM
Price: Rs 1,800
To Register: imojo.in/1wzm4jl
Call: 8999344265

Lol with ex-Navy man

Join Manish Tyagi, a former Indian Navy commander turned stand-up comedian, as he narrates some very funny tales from his life experiences. You can expect many stories, peppered with a dose of wit and humour.
Where: The J Spot, Bandra
When: March 19, 9 PM
Price: Rs 399
To Register: J-Spot, Facebook

Trek to the highest peak

Go trekking with friends to Kalsubai, the highest peak in the state. The medium-level trek involves a four-hour climb, with steel railings, chains, and ladders at perilous points. An overnight bus is being arranged from Mumbai.
Meeting Point: National Park gate, Borivli
When: March 19, 7.45 PM
Price: Rs 700
To Register: www.treksandtrails.org/tours/kalsubai-trek-highest-peak-of-maharashtra

Click Messi on Bandra's walls

Go on a photo walk through the tiny lanes of Chapel Road, Where homes are covered with graffiti that capture Argentine footballer Lionel Messi's sporting journey. You don't need to carry a professional camera along. Participants will get free snack boxes and those above 21, can also enjoy beer.
Where: Chapel Road, Bandra
When: March 14, 2021, 1 PM
To Register: Mumbai Travelography, Facebook

Meet a person with a skill you can use

Barudgar is an educator with one of the most reputed schools in Mumbai. After graduating she worked in the corporate sector for around two years, but quit it to enrol in an Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCED) course from the Gujarat Research Society. Given her love for teaching and creativity, she started her career as an educator. Barudgar teaches English, EVS, and Arithmetic. She uses her creative teaching aids to teach kids. This allows the kids to learn in an involved and interactive manner. She feels that even a spoon if used creatively, can help make a child learn alphabets. Barudgar's teaching aids are ideal for the the three to six age group.

Recommended by: Teacher Priya Satra, says, "In school, we have a special time during the day Called ‘Story Time', and Heena created great flip stories with her storyline that helped us have a fun story session with the kids. During the lockdown, she created special hand puppets, which made the sessions interactive."

Heena Barudgar, 34 Teacher
Available for: Creating teaching aids for teachers, parents and students
Charges: Starting Rs 1,000
Email at: heena.barudgar@rediffmail.com

Of not-so happy families

Hanita Bhambri

When the writer first heard ‘A dog chasing its own tail', she was overwhelmed by the maturity in the writing. The song, which is about a child thinking about her parents fighting, is sensitively done, and will make you wonder who the singer is. It's Hanita Bhambri, 23, whose music and songwriting skills beguile her age. She was inspired to write this song during a 21 days 21 songs songwriting series during the first phase of lockdown. She asked her listeners to share their stories. When one of them said she felt isolated when growing up, and that her parents fighting left her own adult relationships damaged, she decided to write a song that challenges the stigma of a broken home. The lockdown, she says, worked for her because listeners gravitated towards indie songwriting. "I feel like I've found my tribe online, who are extremely supportive and loyal. I feel like the isolation, though, eventually did get to me. It affected my mental health a lot and I've realigned my priorities and focused on finding mental peace and joy. No amount of success or fame is worth sacrificing that for."
Available on: all streaming platforms

From videsh to swadesh

Abhishek's background in higher education, philosophy and anthropology and Jessica's experience in financial services marketing and storytelling, drew them to direct service non-profit work in India

Abhishek and Jessica Kumar are an Indian-American, cultural anthropologist-writer couple living an interesting life in India. "After moving to America for academics, Abhishek said he would never move back to his hometown in Bihar. Until he met me, an American girl who had lived in India before and had fallen in love with the culture and the Hindi language," says Jessica. Together, they began to work for a non-profit, and it's over the last decade that the couple has been invited to various institutions and gatherings to speak about the changing social landscape of the subcontinent and the South Asian diaspora. Out of these invitations was born the Invisible India Podcast in 2018. "We document and share our adventures and misadventures as a cross-cultural couple in India and highlight the work of Indians who are breaking stereotypes and highlighting progressive social dynamics," she adds. In a recent episode, Jessica shares her story of moving to India, learning Hindi and offers tips to foreigners who are married to Indians. In 2021, the Kumars are looking for unique stories of groundbreaking Indians who are shaping the culture in new and dynamic ways. Know one? Get in touch.
@invisibleindia, Instagram
Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana

Teens become wealth managers

Rohit Ramachandran and Siddarth Padmanabhan

Gimi India is the new app in town that teaches teens to handle their pocket money. Co-founded by Rohit Ramachandran and Siddarth Padmanabhan, it enables parents and children to manage chores, allowances and also delivers learning modules. "It's no secret that thanks to the pandemic, the market and economy are going to be different going forward. For a country that places emphasis and pressure on education, financial literacy is still an alien concept. Everyone was saying, wish we had put our money to better use from the start of their careers," says Ramachandran. The app introduces children to digital payments, saving, and investing, using interactive methods. The parents' version of the app is used to configure their child's version and oversee financial dealings. The kid's version also works as a full-fledged payments app linked to a debit card, along with e-learning modules curated around financial literacy. As Padmanabhan says, "A lot of parents said they don't give their children fixed pocket money, and instead accompany them while making purchases. But, what they are in fact, doing is robbing them of the experience of handling money. This leads to bad spending habits when they grow up and earn," Padmanabhan thinks.
On: Playstore and App Store

What a relief!

With the lockdown last year, the one thing that we didn't have to worry about was sitting in public loos at cinemas, restaurants or even the office. We mean, how often we tried the Sandra Bullock trick of spreading toilet paper sheets over the seat, just so you didn't leave with an empty bladder, but also UTI. Which is why, Pee Safe's Toilet Seat Santiser goes right next to the pepper spray bottle in our handbag. It is exactly what the name suggests and comes with a lavender aroma, so that what you did inside remains only your business. And, at a quick 10-second dry promise, you aren't wasting too much time either. Plus, the main advantage over pouring regular sanitiser: no contact.
Rs 180 for 75 ml; peesafe.com

Bring a stone to life

Since stones are everywhere, they are outright ignored or thought of as dull. However, Suman Dabholkar, a professional art teacher, who also considers himself a stone artist, perceives them differently. During the lockdown, he landed the opportunity to visit Sindhudurg, where he hails from. A lover of nature, he spent his time creatively painting river stones, giving them a new and realistic look.

"The beauty of nature continues to attract me. There's a river about an hour away from my home. While wandering, I could visualise various shapes in the stones, and decided to give them a new form.

Dabholkar has built quite a collection by recreating the faces of Albert Einstein, Abdul Kalam, Naseeruddin Shah, Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar and Savitribai Phule, on them. He has managed to grab the attention of the famous. Kalyani Mulye, who acted in the Marathi film, Nude, bought one of the pieces. The art is available at Rs 1,000 onwards.
@suman.dabholkar, Instagram

Self-help for millennials

As a millennial, how confused are you about navigating the business world, especially when the next best opportunity is just a swipe-the-screen away? Author-columnist Sandeep Das's book, Hacks for Life and Career: A Millennial's Guide to Making it Big (Sage Publications; R595) is a simple guide to getting it right. Das, who is director with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has been a strategy consultant for over 10 years. In this book, he spells out the struggles of the average millennial, and how they can be best overcome with simple changes, personally as well as professionally. From ways to avoid self-sabotaging social media habits - "it is advisable to keep all professional contacts, especially bosses, clients and senior leaders, away" from your Instagram or Facebook page, he suggests - to easy guides to constructing a high-profile LinkedIn Page that shows off how you wear your passion on your sleeve, and skills you need to nail your first internship, Das packs in a lot of ammo in 61 short chapters. In the end, he offers 10 commandments to lead a meaningful life - finding a hobby, sleeping like a baby, and watching a web series, "once" every month. Now, for a millennial, these aren't impossible goals, really.
Amazon.in

Curated by Gitanjali Chandrasekharan, Aastha Atray Banan, Jane Borges, Prutha Bhosle