Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

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

Glitter for Gauri

A shopper selects jewellery for the deity in a shop during the Ganesh festival on Monday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Youth on song

Prabh Deep

Ever since the first Toto Music Awards was held in 2004, the annual event has built a formidable reputation for championing young Indian musicians. The reason is that it follows a democratic process where there is no bar on language or genre, and promotes applications from the country's more neglected regions. Past winners include rapper Prabh Deep and Mumbai hip-hop crew Swadesi.

Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) is the non-profit that hosts it, and they are calling for entries for the show's 2021 edition. Trustee Sarita Vellani told this diarist, "We will release a longlist in September or October, followed by a shortlist, before the final winners are declared in Febr-uary 2021."

Bappa's sweet blessings for Aarey

Plate of modaks

It's officially the season of modaks. While they are currently ubiquitous, this diarist feels that the joy of tucking into Bappa's favourite can be multiplied if we are also able to extend our support to those who need it. Warli women from a village in Aarey, who work with the social enterprise Tribal Tadka, have been doling out ukadiche modaks.

Proceeds from the sales go directly to them, a lot of whom have been hit hard by the pandemic. Founder Cassandra Nazareth told us, "We sold over 1,500 pieces last year, but with subdued celebrations this time, we've delivered only 300. The modaks are totally vegan." If you'd like to pledge your support, call 9820224450 to place an order.

Water heroes

Fitness Forever, a SoBo fitness outfit, decided it was time to get some H2O on the road. Its founder Captain Pramod Salvi told this diarist, "The Marine Drive stretch is lined with runners. Several running clubs that had installed water stations at intervals for their members who reserved their long runs for Sundays, are absent because of lockdown."

Salvi, a celebrated marath-oner himself, bought water, energy drinks and disposable glasses, and placed all of it in his car. He and wife Kranti were near Tilak Garden the past weekend, providing hydration to runners. The Salvis plan to put smiles into miles in this way, for a few Sundays.

Hope for the shaadi industry

If you felt that the big fat Indian wedding was invincible, the pandemic proved you wrong. Howe-ver, turns out, with Unlock 3.0, this trend is reversing. One of India's leading wedding players has not only salvaged its losses but also recorded a 40 per cent increase in demand.

Detailed SOPs for safety, a 20-plus point pre-function safety checklist for venues, frequent engagement with customers through virtual channels, exciting offers like free rescheduling and packages inclusive of catering, photography and live streaming services, have helped. Wedding planners, are you listening?

Women power

Kalbelia performer

Tomorrow is Women's Equality Day, and Sahapedia, a cultural platform, is giving it a relevant focus with a discussion on Rajasthan's women musicians, and how they've reclaimed public spaces in the past decade. The panellists include Ayla Joncheere, creative director of performing arts platform Maghenta; Divya Bhatia, festival director, Jodhpur RIFF; and Priyamvada Golcha, museum programming consultant of the Jaipur Viraasat Foundation.

Ayla Joncheere

Belgium-based Ayla Joncheere told this diarist, "My focus will be on the women artistes of the Kalbelia community, who are the sole breadwinners. They've become more emancipated, battled stigmas to perform and support their families in the last decade. The community where the birth of a girl child was frowned upon, now celebrates them."

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