Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

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

Agla station, Dadar

With the city lifeline out of bounds for months, we’ve all been missing local train travel, even the crush — err, rush — hour at Dadar. And a post by Signboard Wala, who shows up with his thoughts on a placard, got us nostalgic, as he held up the sign — “I have forgotten Dadar kaunsi side aata hai”. “It’s been almost a year since locals stopped, so we thought of posting something related to it,” shared Vaidehee Salvi, who is behind the funny content. The Signboard Wala, Nilraj Kadam, added that the day they clicked this photograph, the government had announced the opening of locals for all. Talk about a telling sign. 

Banks of memories

(From left) Ashis Ghatak and Louiz Banks

We know him as a jazz maestro. We know of his association with RD Burman, and even the fact that he composed popular ad jingles including Kya swaad hai for a chocolate brand. But not many people know that as a child in Darjeeling, Louiz Banks wasn’t just his school’s band leader. He was a champion at basketball and carrom as well. Young Banks would also meet his girlfriends in unusual places, like cemeteries. Later — when he went out to get Calcutta’s famous kathi rolls with Lorraine, his eventual wife, while living hand-to-mouth playing music on Park Street when it was a swinging place — he would take a loan of R25 from his future mother-in-law so that he could take her daughter out in an auto. 

These are the sort of insights into the legend’s life that will be revealed when Louiz Banks – A Symphony of Love (Rupa Publications) is launched next week. Ashis Ghatak has authored the biography. “He was calm and quiet since childhood. But his friends told me that he would also play the roles of Robin Hood and Tarzan, and shoot arrows at them, which the guardians complained about,” Ghatak added to this diarist. We’ll leave the rest for the book. Pick up the title after it hits the shelves on February 11, which is his birthday, to find out more about the man.

Shek it up in SoBo

Chef Moshe Shek was almost ready to open his “little café” in Kalaghoda in March 2020, when the lockdown happened. But the celebrity chef, who’s behind several new dining concepts and restaurants in India, has finally managed to open the doors of Knead to the public now. Shek describes the café, which has come up above Ayub’s, as “simple, easy and fuss-free”. “I started thinking about the café a year before the virus hit us. We had to put everything on hold in March,” he shared about the eatery that serves ovo-vegetarian fare.  “It’s bakery-oriented, so you can expect a whole range of sandwiches, puff pastries, sourdoughs, pitas, etc. We plan to have an open kitchen for demo classes later.” 

Mendelssohn moment

Felix Mendelssohn. Pic courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

Today marks the 212th birth anniversary of the great German composer Felix Mendelssohn. And this diarist was excited to learn that Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings in E-flat major will be heard in the city this year, thanks to NCPA’s Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI). While sharing his plans for the orchestra in 2021, music director Marat Bisengaliev revealed that he is trying to execute the piece ambitiously. “I’m trying to involve the entire orchestra in this piece of chamber music. I’m also going to arrange a programme on Edward Elgar. I’m a specialist of his works. I lived in England for a few years as a musician-in-residence where I did scientific research.” 

Marat Bisengaliev

All’s well that ends wall in Worli

Have wall? Must paint. And we have no complaint. That is summing up the sentiment at Worli’s prestigious residential address, the Pochkhanawala Road. This newspaper had recently documented a wall painting initiative opposite Hiltop Hotel in Worli in a gully that opens out to Worli Seaface. Now there is a similar initiative on the Suraiya building wall, the proverbial stone’s throw away. The wall surface has been painted by a couple of youngsters. “We are art students and enthusiasts. The building has given us permission to paint its wall,” they smiled, carting their buckets of paint as each of them took on a dedicated section. 

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