Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

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

All clear

Gauri Khan peeps into the viewfinder to approve a photograph clicked of her at an event at her Santacruz store on Sunday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Winning notes

The Indian Music Diaries is a social media platform for indie music that recently announced its own awards show, which had detailed categories like best artwork, artist management and music photography. The shortlisted candidates represented a cross-sectional demographic of acts from across India, such as Sikkimese folk singer Bipul Chhetri and Mumbai metal outfit Demonic Resurrection. The winners have just been announced, and they include big names like Peter Cat Recording Co (in pic), who won the best album award for their stunning album, Bismillah, and local act Swadesi, who won the best hip-hop artiste accolade. Congratulations, guys.

Lobo's next move on the dance floor

When it comes to dance, Ashley Lobo is one of biggest Indian names in ballet and contemporary dance. Come February 16, and he will be showcasing a 15-minute live dance performance in New York at the Flushing Town Hall. Lobo has been selected along with four other choreographers from Sweden, Columbia, Lebanon, and Uganda to design this piece. He will be training international dancers in contemporary dance and ballet, as he choreographs a performance on the concept of 'home'. According to him, at a time when people stand divided, this project aims to engage diverse communities to build a sense of connection  across boundaries and cultures. Lobo will also be taking a masterclass to teach ballet based on the prana paint and flow sensitising approach he has developed that allows the body to move unhindered so that it can create its own art.   

Second thoughts on Kamra

When the now infamous video of standup Kunal Kamra heckling editor Arnab Goswami on a flight surfaced, many liberals were set aback — Kamra was viewed as an opportunist and the incident, an invasion of privacy and in-flight safety norms. But the developments that followed that incident have left people in a fix. Kamra was banned indefinitely by certain flight operators and then, the pilot who flew him and Goswami came out in support of the comedian saying he wasn't being unruly. Kamra also put out a video statement that shows his reasoning behind the heckling — by showing how Goswami's channel  has mimicked the same behaviour in the name of journalism. This has forced people to rethink their stand on the issue, including filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, who shared the statement saying, "First I thought Kunal had crossed the line but after seeing this video I think the concerned person deserved it. And look at the system breaking all rules to make the sycophants happy."

Honk responsibly

That's what Mumbai Police seems to be saying with its latest initiative to curb honking. In a short video they put out on Twitter, they were seen installing decibel meters at signal poles around CSMT, Bandra, Pedder Road and Hindmata Cinema junction. If the noise hit a level of above 85 dbs, the signal would stop its original countdown and reset to 90 seconds, thus forcing commuters to wait longer.  After garnering shocked reactions, a message flashing on a post read, "Honk more. Wait More," and that is when people realised their folly. Cricketer Hardik Pandya and media personality Pritish Nandy gave the police force a thumbs up in the comments. And we can only agree with the commentator who said, "Wish every city and town in India will copy this brilliant idea". 

This name is not a sea-cret anymore

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is an organisation that the city owes a huge debt to for researching on and preserving wildlife and marine life. But there are some people that BNHS also owes a debt to, such as Rajendra Pawar and Vishwas Shinde. Loyal staffers, they now hold the distinction of a new marine species being named after them. Cratena Pawarshindeorum is what it's called, and BNHS director Dr Deepak Apte told this diarist, "We named it after these two field assistants, who have been working with us for 28 years. The decision was in recognition of their service to the Society." Well deserved, we feel.

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