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Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Updated on: 22 August,2020 06:34 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Team mid-day |

"The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce. "

Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

A girl soaks in the mood as she breaks into a jig on Carter Road promenade.

Rain on me


A girl soaks in the mood as she breaks into a jig on Carter Road promenade. Pic/ Shadab Khan


Sea of change 


A still from VisarJunk
A still from VisarJunk

Writer and design consultant Gowri Shenoy always wondered that if Mumbaikars love Ganesha so dearly, why do they not care while immersing the deity. Realising that awareness was the key to reduce the impact visarjan has on the ecology, Shenoy, along with animator Hiral Gandhi, and voiceover artistes Aniket Bele, Aarohee Divekar and Nilesh Sharma, created a four-part animation film.

Gowri Shenoy
Gowri Shenoy

Aptly titled VisarJunk, it will be released during the festival on @thespunksociety_ on Instagram. It talks of the harmful effects of immersion and PoP idols through conversations between Lady Pomp Fret, her Lil Fret, and worn off Ganesha idols on the sea bed. "The dire state of beaches and the sea after every visarjan is saddening. Although fewer people will be out time, it's still going to create an impact. I hope this film creates awareness," shared Shenoy.

Grin and mask it

PIC COURTESY/@DGPMaharashtra
PIC COURTESY/@DGPMaharashtra

The official Twitter account of Maharashtra Police has tickled the collective funny bone with this one. They tweeted the picture of popular television character 'Babdya' to drive home their point about wearing a mask. In the popular Marathi television soap Agabai sasubai, Babdya is a man-child, spoilt rotten by his mom. He is dishonest and conniving, besides being selfish and irresponsible, so he has definite shades of grey. The tweet shows a tweaked picture of Babdya with a mask, and accompanies it with the text: 'We cannot say whether Babdya is a good person or a bad person, but he is a responsible citizen as he wears a mask.' Twitterati is chortling and chuckling. Good one, police.

Backyard visitors

The bamboo pit viper spotted at the gate
The bamboo pit viper spotted at the gate

Four days ago, the residents of a Bhandup complex were surprised when they spotted a bamboo pit viper slithering around its main gate. They did not panic. Instead, the residents of the complex patiently waited for rescuers from the NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) to turn up at the spot. The incident was lauded by the NGO as it highlighted the paradigm shift of citizen response in rescues.

Pawan Sharma
Pawan Sharma

This diarist caught up with its founder Pawan Sharma, who said, "Until a decade ago the mindset of the majority was to eliminate a snake on sight. This has changed. Awareness and education have helped people become better allies. With the knowledge that most snake species are non-venomous, people are now accepting snakes in their backyards, like birds and butterflies. It's quite heartening to see this shift."

The cultural revolutionary

Dr Jamshed Bhabha with wife, Betty. PIC COURTESY/NCPA Mumbai
Dr Jamshed Bhabha with wife, Betty. PIC COURTESY/NCPA Mumbai

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) owes its existence to the vision of Dr Jamshed Jehangir Bhabha, and yesterday marked his 106th birth anniversary. Dr Bhabha's contribution to elevating the arts and cultural experience in the city is second to none. "Dr Jamshed Bhabha passed away more than 13 years ago, yet we are reminded of his munificence and generosity every day. I am sorry that we could not hold a meeting this year on his birthday on August 21st, so this written tribute will have to be, albeit a poor substitute, to suffice," recalled Khusroo N Suntook, chairman, NCPA, adding, "These bleak days, so full of unexpected twists and turns, remind us of his enormous courage, fortitude, and vision that culminated in the magnificent edifice that we inherited from him. The least we can do to honour his memory is to work tirelessly to overcome this situation and emerge stronger and better."

When Christ went native

Ranjit HoskoteRanjit Hoskote

Here's some time travel that will intrigue the curious mind. Tomorrow, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya's live session How Jesus Went Native will shed light on the engagement between religions and translations of biblical narratives rooted in the 16th and 17th centuries. Poet Ranjit Hoskote will anchor the session focused on two major texts, the Mir' at al-Quds (1602) by Father Jeronimo Xavier and Maulana Abdus Sattar Lahori and the Krista Purana (1616) by Father Thomas Stephens. "These texts showcase the rise of new literary forms and religious imaginations. Though the subject of the Krista Purana isn't a Hindu god, the text is a masterpiece of Bhakti literature. Similarly, the Mir'at al-Quds, known as the fifth gospel veers way from the traditional biblical texts and is written in the dastan tradition," Hoskote told this diarist.

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