Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Hunt on for India's best bartender
The Monin Cup, which claims to be one of India's biggest bartending challenges, is back in the city. Monin is on the hunt for a young bartending talent who will blaze his or her way to the finals and represent India in the international edition of the competition in France.

To be held on September 19, the West Zonal round will be judged by Yangdup Lama, Shatbhi Basu and Nisha Samson. Time to bring out your flaring skills!

Who needs olympic gold medals? we've got bappida!

Pic/Sameer Markande

Bappi Lahiri seems thrilled at the gold rush on display when he dropped by the launch of a jewelry festival at a five-star in Lower Parel.

Is Booker the final test?
The Man Booker Prize has become the highest level of recognition for the English language author after 2013 when it opened up to authors of all countries published in The UK.

Before this, for writers from the US, the highest recognition was the Pulitzer. So the question remains, that has the prize opened up. Given that the two major publishing centres are New York and London, publishing sensibilities are undeniably also governed by the location.

The reserved spaces for the prizes then perhaps provided more opportunity for the non-American writer. Now, this year's shortlist features two writers from the US, two from Canada and two from the United Kingdom. This means that the space for the earlier Booker country authors shrinks a little more. That can't be good news.

Gown or cake?
Who said fashion designers could snip only fabrics and create clothing lines? Meet Parekh, who has showcased at fashion week, has designed a chocolate installation with the chefs at five star near the airport to celebrate International Chocolate Week.

On display till September 21, the gown-shaped installation, studded with 1,500 chocolate roses, has been inspired by the French queen Marie Antoinette (who infamously quipped, ‘Let them eat cake') and the romantic Baroque era of India.

It took the team six whole days to create the dress using almost 100 kilos of chocolate. Once off display, the roses will be donated to Smile Foundation.

Making Mumbai's roads safer
Here's some news that will bring cheer to Mumbai's traffic-harried junta. Mumbai Traffic Police and Radio City 91.1 FM, have joined hands to launch the Rag Rag Mein Road Safety, Rag Rag Mein Mumbai City campaign.

On ground activities saw RJs Salil and Archana (in pic) at traffic signals in the city, where they tried to make Mumbaikars more aware of road safety, rules and regulations, while showcasing the general lack of driving sense and the woes of traffic police.

The activity saw both RJs assist traffic cops, manage traffic at busy junctions. Sanjay Jadhav, DCP Traffic, western suburbs, gave the initiative a thumbs up, "The idea is to spread the word on the importance of road safety."

Get well soon, Yash Narrendu
Young jockey, Yash Narredu (19), son of celebrated former jockey and now trainer, Malesh Narredu, is going to miss at least the first month of the Mumbai racing season. Yash has broken his right wrist; it is both dislocated and fractured after he fell off his mount Chily Chily in the race at Pune on September 10. He was being treated at Sancheti Hospital in Pune.

Call it the fall guy race, but astonishingly, there were at least four jockeys who fell in that race, Yash being one. Amyn Merchant had a hairline shoulder fracture. Jockeys Kavraj Singh and R Ajinkya escaped unhurt. Yash has been acknowledging the ‘get well soons' on social media and says with a cheery, "promise to be back with a bang." Hail the resilience of youth.