The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Shadab Khan
Let's face the audience
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An artiste portraying Ravana prepares backstage ahead of his performance for a Ramleela show at Girgaon Chowpatty.
Wheel of a time
Neurodiverse participants and cyclists go on a 10-km-ride on their bicycles to Global Vipassana Pagoda
As part of a recent initiative, newly-founded community, Saha, brought together 21 neurodiverse individuals and 25 cyclists representing the Borivali Cyclists Association (BCA) for a 10-km-ride from Gorai to Global Vipassana Pagoda. “I co-founded this community with Jalpa Mehta and Gopal Bhagwat. Previously, we have also hosted sport events like trekking,” Aarti Parikh shared. As she is also a cyclist who is a part of the BCA, hosting this event came as a natural choice. “We asked for clips from parents beforehand to ensure that the participants could ride. The trail we picked is also safe, with less traffic,” she revealed. Everyone had at least one professional cyclist from the BCA riding alongside. “Two of them were facing some trouble. But the cyclists were there to assist. The event was a success and we received positive feedback from parents. We also host similar initiatives for the children who live on the streets, and are open to collaborations with institutions for neurodiverse students, who wish to host similar experiences,” Parikh shared. Head to @saha_togetherness for details on upcoming events.
Global Vipassana Pagoda
Bidding day at the book club
Participants place bids at the book exchange session in BKC; (inset) Malliketh Nagda
Last Sunday, The Mumbai Literary Club introduced a fun twist to their usual book exchange sessions with an auction system. Founded in December 2022, the city-based community hosts a monthly event at The White Crow Books and Coffee, BKC, where the participants pitch the book they bring, and after that, a stack is made from those books, and people get a chance to pick their favourite ones according to the token number. People pick a token, and they get to choose a book on their turn. The person holding the highest token number gets the lesser number of options to select a book. In the auction system, participants had to place a bid for a book. The person with the highest token number gets the book. “We planned this twist to spice up the fun, and people enjoyed it. We don’t do this usually, and are not sure if we will try this again,” co-founder Malliketh Nagda told this diarist. People keen to join the community can check out @mumb-ailiteraryclub.
A fruitful experience
The passion fruit plant thrives outside Godfrey Pimenta’s house in Marol; (right) its produce
When activist Godfrey Pimenta was given a passion fruit plant as a gift last year, he planted it at his Marol home, where he has several other plants too. The tree got the same TLC (Tender Loving Care) the other greens got, and one year later it has borne fruit, or shall we say, passion fruit? Pimenta said with a laugh, “My family and I have been feasting on the passion fruit. I had some guests at home recently, and they savoured them. In our busy lives, where packaged and convenience foods fill the fridge, it was different to indulge in fresh fruit, straight from the soil at home.” The passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) belongs to the family Passifloraceae and is native to Brazil. In India, it grows wild across the Western Ghats, in places like the Nilgiris and Wayanad, as well as in Coorg, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram.
Game on in Dombivli
Two TV sets in the new space are reserved for racing games
After two years of being a favourite haunt in the eastern suburb for board game enthusiasts across age groups, Mind Games Cafe has created a new space for e-sports, MGC eSports Hub. “We opened the new café on Monday. The response has been overwhelming since then,” shared co-founders Aditya Kuckian, Nikhil Sohani and Pratik Sohani. The initial idea was to expand their board game café. “But board games and e-sports cater to different vibes. People who play board games require a quieter space with bright lights. E-sports can get loud, and needs to have a dimmer ambience,” Pratik explained. While the café is in the same building, they chose a different floor. “We have six TV set-ups, four for console gaming, and two for racing games,” he revealed.
Family gems
Hand-sketched cover pages of Ashthanayak by MF Hussain
Tao Art Gallery has begun a campaign, requesting Mumbaikars to share a hidden gem from their family collections that holds sentimental significance as far as family legacy goes. The rarest submissions will receive the Ashthanayak, the gallery’s first anniversary catalogue showcasing eight Modern Masters of India. The cover of the catalogue was hand-sketched by MF Husain. “While launching this campaign, we were keen to learn the backstories of these submitted items that were seen as of higher value for those who own them,” Sanjana Shah, creative director, told this diarist.
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