The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Atul Kamble
A clean sweep
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Groundsmen clear the dust off the pitch during the second day of a Mumbai vs Odisha Ranji Trophy match at MCA ground in BKC. Pic/Atul Kamble
Starry breakfast in Bandra
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma pose with the team at the Bandra eatery
Celebrity-spotting at Bandra’s F&B outlets is as predictable as day turning to night. Joining the list most recently was popular breakfast eatery, Benne where starry couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma had dropped by to enjoy breakfast at their 16th Road address. The benne dosa was the first item they ordered, “Anushka got the benne masala dosa, while Virat ate the podi benne dosa. Anushka said it brought back childhood memories of her home in Bengaluru,” shared Akhil Iyer, the eatery’s co-founder. The couple also ordered thatte idli, Mangalore buns, and vegan filter coffee. “The team was pleasantly surprised, but eventually relaxed, and remained professional throughout,” Iyer revealed. The pair posed for photos with the team while Kohli signed Iyer’s cap.
Marbled memories
For archivist Candida Remedios, it was a typical day visiting a church until she stumbled upon a gravestone (inset) with a most intriguing name. Although written in Marathi, the epitaph had an East Indian connection to it. “I was in Giriz (St Francis Xavier’s Church, Vasai) for an event, and was strolling in the church grounds when I spotted this gravestone. I have been noticing the interesting ‘Marathi-fication’ of Anglican names, in some parish graveyards. ‘Blanche’ becomes ‘Bilanshi’, while ‘Francis’ becomes ‘Farshya’,” Remedios shared. When we broached the topic of what piqued her interest in epitaphs, she replied, “My fascination comes from the fact that so much can be packed in a little marble plaque. It also shows how the names in the local community dialect can be preserved in stone for posterity.”
Advent’s here!
An advent box from the past edition containing seasonal goodies; (right) Gauri Devidayal
The whiff of Yuletide goodies has begun, courtesy Mag St Bakery & Restaurant with the launch of their sixth annual Christmas Advent calendar. Patrons who’ve signed up will receive freshly baked treats at their homes every day for 25 days, in either egg or eggless options. It will feature sweet and savoury fare, along with Christmas merchandise. “We wanted to build up the excitement for Christmas, and for people to wake up to goodies, or enjoy it with their tea. We wanted to showcase the wide variety and have tried our best to accommodate everyone’s location and time preferences while delivering orders,” shared founder Gauri Devidayal. To know more, check out foodmatters.in
Local train turns into DJ zone
DJ Dhiraaj in a moment from his set Borivli to Bandra, on the train
It isn’t a usual day when you board your regular local and notice fellow commuters grooving to a DJ set. That’s exactly what happened when DJ Dhiraaj Doriwala brought his system to the Churchgate-bound local. He performed his set, Borivli to Bandra, for the rest in the compartment. “Local trains are Mumbai’s lifeline. Countless people board them every day en route to work, and back. I recall commuting from Borivli to Churchgate for the longest time. And the interesting thing is, so many people do such entertaining things in the local train. Bhajan mandalis and local singers perform regularly, so I thought why not put up a DJ set too,” he told this diarist. Doriwala’s mixtape recently dropped on YouTube and contains an interesting medley of songs, from desi hip-hop artistes like Bharg and Chaar Diwaari, to Kanye (aka Ye) and Bollywood favourites like Bluffmaster’s Right Here, Right Now. “I wanted to highlight Indian independent music through this performance and draw attention to artistes like us,” Doriwala explained.
When Shashi called the shots
Feroz Abbas Khan (left) and Shashi Kapoor. PIc Courtesy/Prithiv Archives
Remember that iconic cricket match from 1983? Not the one you’re thinking about. Theatre maker Feroz Abbas Khan gave us a throwback to a star-studded match played at the Khar Gymkhana in 1983, where actor Shashi Kapoor donned the captain’s hat and cricketing legend Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi stood in as the umpire. “The match was played during the first edition of the Prithvi Festival [headed by Khan]. We decided to pit Kapoor’s filmwallahs against my squad of theatrewallahs for a friendly game,” Khan recalled, adding that the matches soon became an annual ritual, later joined by familiar faces like cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. “It played into the theatre versus film rivalry. The likes of theatremaker Dinesh Thakur would join in with hilarious running commentary. It was a breath of fresh air between the hectic festival work,” he recalled.