Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

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

Modak treats

The women of Aarey, who are part of the Nazareth Foundation’s Tribal Tadka initiative, have something special lined up next week. They are offering sweet treats called ukdiche modak in the run up to Ganesh Chaturthi this year. All modaks are hand-made, stuffed with coconut and jaggery and steamed on firewood. “This is our fourth year selling modaks. They are rustic and made on firewood, because that’s how the women of Aarey make them. Buying the modaks will help the women and their communities, and allow them to keep money in their pockets for the upcoming festive season,” founder Cassandra Nazareth told this diarist. The last date to book a batch is September 5, so if you’re keen to pitch in, send a WhatsApp message to 9920184909. 

K for Koli

Tandel Fund of Archives (TFA) is an organisation that, in 2020, started an initiative called Koli Language Day, celebrated on September 1. The reason is to keep the linguistic legacy of the city’s original inhabitants alive. Parag Kamal Kashinath, who founded TFA with his wife Kadambari, told this diarist that they invited members of Akhila Koli Samaja va Sanskriti Sanvardhana Sanghatana (in pic), a socio-cultural Koli group, to speak in their native tongue at a talk yesterday. Why? “Because we need to build a sustainable space where we come together and think about [our Koli identity],” Kashinath shared. Well said, we think. 

Going beyond the gullies

Let’s move away from the idea of gully rap from the bylanes of Mumbai being the dominant lingua franca for Indian hip-hop. There’s so much more that it boggles the mind to think about the number of languages that rappers in this country are practising their craft in. There’s Siri, from Bengaluru; Tre Ess from Jharkhand; and Ahmer from Srinagar, whose turmoil at home finds expression in his voice. They will come together this month for a panel discussion as part of a creative series called Culture Connects. Online community platform Wild City is part-organising it, and co-founder Munbir Chawla told this diarist, “It’s amazing to see how Indian rappers have made hip-hop their own, giving voice to issues and concerns that trouble them, or people like them, in a language they have grown up speaking. Regional hip-hop has democratised access to music and also given Indian hip-hop a fillip of creativity.” 

For poster-ity

Once upon a time, there was no digital marketing for Bollywood movies. Posters helped spread the word about releases. Wadia Movietone Auction, which goes live on September 19, will celebrate that legacy with over 50 iconic movie posters going under the hammer. Some of the exhibits include Miss Frontier Mail (1936); Diamond Queen (1940); and Jungle Ka Jawahar (1953, in pic). “We are delighted to be able to bring these lots to the fore and highlight a significant part of Indian filmmaking history,” said curator Brijeshwari Gohil.  

This is delivery ka dum

After trying out the dum pukht style of cooking in Dubai, F&B entrepreneur Sanjay Vazirani — who has catered to the likes of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, and the Ambanis — is set to serve up the Awadhi flavours in Mumbai with Art of Dum, a gourmet delivery brand. The chairman and MD, Foodlink F&B Holdings India Pvt Ltd, shared that this culinary style is not often explored in cloud kitchens. “The cloud kitchen space in India has exploded, especially during the pandemic. Art of Dum is our first product in this space. It did phenomenally well in Dubai. Our menu includes dum pukht Awadhi dishes, many of which are slow-cooked for hours,” he added.

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