The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
(From left) Navid Inamdar, Aswin Gidwani, Waman Kendre, Ashok Banthia. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
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The Olympics reach the city
The much-awaited eighth edition of the Theatre Olympics, which made its Indian debut on February 17 in Delhi, has finally reached Mumbai. Organised in India by the National School of Drama, the Mumbai leg of its journey kickstarts on March 24 with NSD director Waman Kendre's play Mohe Piya. Known as the world's largest theatre festival, it has been held in Greece, Japan, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, China and Poland since inception in 1993. In India, it will cover 17 cities with over 25,000 artistes presenting 450 shows.
True to its Flag of Friendship theme, the Mumbai chapter will see 28 performances not just from cities including Gautam Budh Nagar, Ujjain, Golaghat, Imphal and Jodhpur, but also from countries across the world such as Poland, Japan, Czech Republic, Australia and the US. Mumbai will also host an international seminar on the dwindling popularity of theatre. We are sure the city that boasts of one of the most thriving theatre scenes in India will have something valuable to add to the discussion.
Pic/Atul Kamble
Vested interests
Something in designer Abu Jani's attire seems to have caught actor Dimple Kapadia's fancy at the launch of his new store with partner Sandeep Khosla at Kemps Corner on Friday.
Buttering in Melbourne
For most of the world, India is still synonymous with yoga, snakes, elephants and curries. It's often quite a task making them believe otherwise. However, chef Saransh Goila seems to have done it like a boss. He has taken his butter chicken all the way to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, and impressed one and all. "Yes! Sold out on Day One at @Melbfoodandwine I can't begin to describe the happiness this brings. To have people walk out with plates licked clean, to hear them say we didn't know Indian food could taste like this *without being too rich*," tweeted the pro. Feels like a king, eh?
Big Bang with Hawking
The global outpouring of grief over Stephen Hawking's passing has been unprecedented. From social activists to scientists, young entrepreneurs to physics tutors have been hailing the genius through tributes. A small indication, perhaps, of the millions of lives that he touched across races, borders and age groups. This post by the cast of popular TV sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, was a touching one, where they signed off with a 'thank you for inspiring us.' The scientist did a cameo in the episode, The Hawking Excitation, where he had to review Sheldon's paper on the Higgs boson.
All that jazz
There are few music venues in Mumbai where Louiz Banks hasn't performed. Banks' story of coming to Mumbai from Kolkata thanks to RD Burman is well known. Though the city of joy might not see Banks perform regularly today, he is still fondly remembered by its music buffs, as we found out on a recent trip. While there, we spotted pop art that included trivia about the street it was on to familiarise one with Kolkata's history. One such work was a tribute to Banks on the tony Park Street that read "Louis Banks started as a drummer at Blue Fox Park Street in 1971". As they say, people leave but their music is eternal.
Why Mumbai forgets
The Kardashians of the world have a lot on their plates. So, when one makes news about apparently forgetting her child in a Paris hotel, you can always give her the benefit of the doubt. But what happens when laymen like ourselves forget stuff? Whom do we blame - Monday blues or weekend highs?
We think we might need to have a good excuse handy because Uber has released the second edition of the Uber Lost and Found Index. And, wait for it, while India is the most forgetful country in the Asia-Pacific zone, Mumbai is the third forgetful in the country, placing itself right after Bengaluru and New Delhi.
Unsurprisingly, Mumbaikars have reported the highest number of lost items on Monday and Saturday, and during the wee hours of the morning, that is between 5 am and 6 am, as well as during the sluggish nap time between 2 pm and 4 pm. There's more. Last year, we have been the most forgetful on June 28, December 5 and 23. While we are still trying to figure out why, here's a list of lost items that make getting to the reason very, very difficult - 12 dental mirrors, poker set, Diwali cracker gun, body butter and also a bag full of expensive gifts. Go figure!
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