Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

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

Driving support for cancer

On November 3, four sexagenarian women drivers will hit the road to raise funds for the benefit of children diagnosed with cancer. Befittingly named the Care Car expedition, this initiative is the brainchild of porcelain artist Rina Valecha, serial entrepreneur Hansu Pardiwala, psychoanalyst Maneck Bhatia and HR consultant Chitra Hiremath. Taking off from Mumbai, they will cover a distance of 4,800 km, spanning  several cities, including Indore, Gwalior, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bodhgaya, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. “All of us are passionate drivers and, despite coming from different backgrounds, this binds us together. Earlier this year, we went on a road trip to Kutch, where we came across women bikers who were raising money to educate girl children. This inspired us to dedicate our next road trip to a cause that is dear to all of us,” Pardiwala said. The group has already raised over R22 lakh for Tata Memorial Hospital through their efforts, which will be dedicated towards supporting accommodation to the families of children who are admitted into the hospital and also for regular testing and rehabilitation for those who have beat cancer. They hope to undertake annual drives to keep supporting other worthy causes. Track their journey on Instagram via their handle @the_care_car.

Safe Diwali for all

The festival of lights can prove painfully noisy for the city’s strays, as a recent social media post by the NGO Welfare of Stray Dogs has reminded us. The post shares that the loud sounds produced by firecrackers scares the strays and the organisation receives many complaints of lost dogs and cats that run away from the noise and become disoriented about their surroundings. In addition to staying away from firecrackers, they’re requesting citizens to ensure that all neighbourhood stray dogs have name tags that contain the dog’s name, area of residence and contact details of the person tending to the pooch.

Dancing across  boundaries

Mumbai-based b-Boy Wildchild walked away with a gold medal at the recently concluded National Breaking Championship. This competition is part of the journey towards the 2024 Olympic Games. The women’s category saw b-girl Jo came in at second place. But before their potential Olympics debut, Wildchild and Jo will be stopping by Gdansk in Poland, where they will represent India in the Red Bull BC One World Final. “We will compete in the Last Chance Cyphers for a spot in the World Final line-up. This is a terrific opportunity to represent Indian dancers on a global platform,” Wildchild said.

Strike a pose

Everyone knows Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s love for the art of photography. However, even his son and the state’s environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray was tempted to take a photo at this event. The occasion was the general meeting of The Western India Football Association held at the Dhankawadi campus of Bharati University. While visiting the photography institute on campus recently, president of the Football Association, former union minister Praful Patel, vice president and acting president of Bharati University Dr Vishwajit Kadam and Maloji Raje Chhatrapati gave such a pose that Aaditya Thackeray clicked it immediately! 

Stepping up in Bandstand

Here’s good news for Shah Rukh Khan fans who crowd outside Mannat hoping to catch a glimpse of the superstar, and for people who simply want to soak in the sea view at Bandstand. The folks at Bombay Greenway, a community that reimagines spaces in Mumbai, are turning a traffic island at the spot into a garden where people can sit on its steps and gaze at the sea, or take a breather while they wait for SRK to surface. Eighty per cent of the work has already been completed, shared Alan Abraham of Bombay Greenway, adding, “We have also made a plan for the overall Bandstand route, which includes skate parks and cycling routes.” Watch this space for more news on that front.

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