Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

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

Now, a ghaghra from Ferreira

A mere glimpse of James Ferreira’s designs is enough to distinguish it from any other label you’ve seen. His design identity — the natural flow, inventive cuts and sharp tailoring of his western silhouettes — is what stayed with this diarist from a past visit to his Khotachiwadi home. That’s why it is a (pleasant) surprise to learn that he’ll be delving into an “uncharted territory”.

Ferreira will be collaborating with friend and founder of Kerala Fashion League (KFL), Abhil Dev for an exclusive bridal wear collection that will be part of Dev’s new boutique KFL Couture in Cochin, set to open next month. “Till date, I haven’t made any ready-to-wear Indian lines, and have only done commissioned work. For me, it’s always the bride who is most important and I have never repeated a ghagra choli ever. I want to take the ghagra to different places. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from European clothing from the 16th and 18th centuries,” he shared. We’re sure brides-to-be will call dibs on this one.

Rose for a cause

While Valentine’s Day is mostly celebrated by couples in love, this diarist learnt that a division of the Maharashtra Traffic police decided to celebrate it in their own unique style, albeit with a message. The Charoti Junction stretch on the outskirts of Mumbai is often used by sports bikers to speed (100 kmph-plus) their 1000cc-plus mean machines, particularly on weekends. These traffic cops decided to barricade the area on Valentine’s Day that was celebrated last Sunday, and stop the bikers and advise them against speeding. Tushar Poojari, 24, a rider from Dahisar was first frightened to be halted by the sea of cops along with over a dozen bikes but then pleasantly surprised when the policeman offered the riders red roses. “The policemen took a rose out of their bag and handed it over to me and said, ‘Please don’t speed because there were a couple of fatal bike accidents here two days ago.’ I froze for a moment but then realised their noble intentions. I’ll never speed on that stretch again and I’m sure my other biker friends won’t too,” Poojari told this diarist. Cheers to the cops for their special rose with a cause. 

Helping hand for an icon

Vanraj Bhatia at the NCPA for a rehearsal of one of his compositions. Pic/Zubin Balaporia Photography

A doyen of music composition in the sphere of Indian New Wave cinema, Vanraj Bhatia needs a helping hand. The 94-year-old directed the music for iconic films including Shyam Benegal’s Ankur (1974) and Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983). But, his work has dried up over the past 20 years after Bollywood has taken a new direction. His finances, consequently, have dwindled. “Vanraj is a bachelor and he doesn’t have a lot of family. He has very little money left and lives on a sort of stipend that some friends including myself offer him,” shared ace pianist and former Indus Creed band member Zubin Balaporia, adding, “But my greatest fright is, what if he has to be admitted to a hospital? Even Rs 1 lakh is nothing in that situation.”

Balaporia first met Bhatia in the 1980s as a studio musician and has sought his advice ever since. He told this diarist that the nonagenarian had called him up a few weeks ago, saying that his medical insurance was about to expire and he didn’t have the funds to renew it. That’s when Balaporia thought of starting this donation drive, spreading the word among friends, and the larger music and film fraternity. “The response has been phenomenal. But it has nothing to do with me. It’s the sheer power of Vanraj’s music and the relationships he made,” he shared. That’s heartening to know, and if you would like to contribute too, visit June Banerjee’s Facebook page for details regarding the bank account and address. 

Will Parsis make Uddhav, ‘aapro’?

The meeting with Cooper (third from left)

Parsis and political parties? As unlike chalk and cheese. Parsis and the Shiv Sena? Now that is really stretching it. Well, sometimes the twain does meet. After the recent induction of well-known Colaba activist Pervez Cooper into the Shiv Sena, it is mission ‘Bawas for Sena’. Recently, Cooper held a meeting with a few members of the community at a SoBo venue to discuss issues that concern them. His ambition is to try and see if Zoroastrians with drive to bring about change will come aboard the Sena. “We also have a WhatsApp group which is about making the possibility of a Parsi wing in the Shiv Sena a reality,” said Cooper. “I am not just going to be a WhatsApp warrior, but will do my best to bring Parsis into the Sena fold,” he said. Well, it should be ‘Aapro Uddhav’ soon.

Vaccine views

With vaccines being rolled out globally, the new normal is here. And a new survey by a healthcare company, revealed that while 53 per cent of their 10,000 respondents were apprehensive about the vaccine in December 2020, 61 per cent Indians are now fine with being administered the available vaccines. People also seem to be slipping back into their regular routines — about 27 per cent were eating out at restaurants, 26 percent were attending family functions and birthdays and 19 per cent were at weddings. 

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