Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

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

The rickshaw ruckus  

The autorickshaws seem to outnumber commuters as they queue up near Valipeer Road near Kalyan railway station.

Let’s top this one too

Sunil D Shah; (right) A shop front with the banners

You would rather shop in Dadar. Especially if you have your finger inked. The shopkeepers and traders of the buzzing Central Mumbai hub, a melting pot of commerce and tradition, residential colonies and upscale high-rises, are getting into pushing for more voting numbers. The Dadar Vyapaari Sangh is playing on numbers with a slogan stating: ‘GST & Income Tax Collection Number 1 in Maharashtra. Let’s Make Voting Percentage Number 1 in Maharashtra.’ Sunil D Shah, the Sangh’s president told this diarist, “All the shops here are in such a high visibility spot. We thought; why not play on figures while exhorting the citizenry to vote. This simple slogan encapsulates the overall sentiment here.” 

Bridge gaps in mental health 

Honourable Prince Manvendra Singh and Pritha Saha

The second edition of the Indian Mental Health Summit begins today in Powai. The event will feature five panel discussions and engaging activities. “We wanted to create an open dialogue between mental health professionals about pertinent topics,” said founder Pritha Saha. Honourable Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil (inset, left) will be a panellist at the event. “I plan to approach sexual wellness as a balanced integration of physical and mental health and aim to create a holistic view of wellness, especially for marginalised communities,” the Prince told us. To register, head to @indian-mentalhealthsummit2024. 

The amazing grace of Boney M

Members of the Shillong Chamber Choir gather around the piano to sing Amazing Grace during the visit by Boney M. Pic Courtesy/Instagram

It is not often that nostalgia comes alive in the beauty of Shillong. It certainly did when Boney M landed in the North East on Thursday, ahead of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The classic disco group will be performing alongside the choir at the festival today, and spent a while at their residence. “We love Boney M and have been singing their songs for ages,” shared lead singer William Richmond Basaiawmoit. While it was a casual night, it was the conversation with vocalist Maizie Williams that took them by surprise. “She is a devout person, and loves choir music,” Richmond said. Alto singer Donna Marthong added, “Having spent all my childhood years listening to Boney M, it was surreal to me.” The icing on the cake though is singing for the group, Richmond revealed, “Apart from rehearsing the songs, we also sang Amazing Grace with her, when their keyboardist got on the keys of uncle Neil’s [Nongkynrih] old piano.” 

Architecture from a queer lens

Architecture from a queer lens

When was the last time you reimagined historical architecture? The School of Environment and Architecture is hosting a semester-long symposium, The Bookmakers, examining the interplay between text and space. “Series aims to open up the idea of reading spaces through literature, and explore the complex subjectivity of inhabiting spaces,” said the co-founder and director, Rupali Gupte. Yesterday’s inaugural talk featured the book A Queer Reading of Nawabi Architecture and the Colonial Archive: Lucknow Queerscapes co-authored by Sonal Mithal and Arun Paul. “Colonial archives often used insulting terms to describe certain monuments. This book re-reads these archives through a queer lens,” Mithal (above, right) explained. The erasure and queerness of monuments such as Qaisarbagh are re-examined, offering alternative vocabularies to view history from a queer lens.

Qaisarbagh; (right) A close-up of the façade at Qaisarbagh.  Pics Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

Slovenian to Marathi, via English 

Sanjeev Khandekar, Manya Joshi (third from left) and Divate (extreme right) in Slovenia

This evening, when Hemant Divate, Manya Joshi and Sanjeev Khedekar will join Slovenian poet and curator Brane Mozetič at the Literature Live! Mumbai LitFest stage, they will be continuing a tradition that goes back to Srečko Kosovel. “Our collaboration began in 2023 when Mozetic invited the three of us to collaborate at their annual poetry and performance festival. The festival was actually held near the birthplace of Kosovel, who had a long correspondence with Rabindranath Tagore,” shared Divate. Over three days, the group worked with the Slovenian poet, and his colleagues to translate three poems in the European language to Marathi, while their counterparts mirrored their actions. “The performance this evening will be a continuation of the poems we translated, with English being our bridge language,” Divate told this diarist. 

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!