Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Playing with kasundi in Worli
Mumbai-based theatre group Akvarious is all set to stage their women-centric play, Bayan, at a new restaurant next week. The play is a tripartite all-women's piece which chronicles a throwback to simpler times, a narrative on superficial fashion consciousness and a skit on four women who are trapped in the monotony of working at a call centre. Let alone its feminist inclinations, the play is unique in its mobility, too - how does a play pan out at a restaurant? one might ask.

"The idea came about in 2015 when we completed 15 years and we did a festival where we launched six new productions. The thought was to create easily consumable plays that could be performed at any space without getting too much into stage, light and sound," says Akarsh Khurana, founder of the theatre group. Opening its doors to this project is the city's first Bengali-French eatery that has already piqued the interests of a discerning audience that knows and appreciates fine food and fine experiences.

"We would like to showcase art, culture and music events along with immersive interactions around regional cuisines for our audience," said owners of Mustard, Shilpa Sharma and Punam Singh to host a play at the restaurant.

Sam is on a roll
The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) inducted advertising doyen Sam Balsara into its Hall of Fame at the sixth edition of the IAA Leadership Awards. That's one more feather in Balsara's crowded cap.

Srinivasan Swamy, Sam Balsara (centre) and Ramesh Narayan, President of IAA at an event

Balsara has been the President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India, The Advertising Club and the IAA. He has also been Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations and Advertising Standards Council of India (whew!). While there are awards and there are awards, everything about a Hall of Famer is extra special.

City chakkar
A new reading trail for Mumbai

Khaki Tours, a heritage walks start-up, will launch an NGO to promote heritage awareness, archiving and conservation. "A key part of the drive is to make books about Mumbai accessible to heritage enthusiasts," reveals Bharat Gothoskar, its founder.

Bharat Gothoskar

The group has been collecting books about Mumbai and Maharashtra for over a decade and has shifted a part of this collection to their office in Fort. He tells us that there is a plan to have a dedicated space where people will be able to access these books.

A small part of the collection at the office

Citizens can support the #KhakiLibrary in the form of donating books or fund the idea as well. Interested folk can reach out on hi@khakitours.com or 8828100111.

The 125-year-old ticks away
For Mumbaikars, there are public utility buildings and then there is the "BMC". It conjures several images - the kingdom of babus, the place where files disappear, and where lawmakers of the city's civic body decide and deliberate over the fate of the Urbs Prima in Indis (India's premier city; there's even an allegorical figure on the façade denoting this).

A city chronicler reminded us that July 31 marked the 125th year since this Gothic creation by FW Stevens was ready. We would've loved to see an open-door policy to mark the day, complete with heritage walks inside the historic building. Then again, a public forum to address some of its burning issues (read: potholes) would have been the best way to walk the talk on its B-day.

Kiki in Bandra
Remember the cringe-pop track Bolna Aunty Aau Kya? If you do, then remember how thousands of people signed up for an event last year aimed at shouting the lyrics out on Marine Drive? Well, that event had turned out to be a hoax, since the person who had made the related Facebook page had meant it as a joke.

But now, taking off from the trending Drake song In My Feelings, there is a similar Facebook event calling for Mumbaikars to shout out, "Kiki, do you love me?" at Bandstand this Sunday. But is this a joke as well? We'll wait and see.

Training his eyes on the public

Aamir Khan adjusts his spectacles at an event for screenwriters in Bandra on Wednesday. Pic/Shadab Khan

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