Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Tales

Milestones and more
For all those of you following The Odd Traveller, Sachin Bhandary's journey to complete The 12 Project, ensure that you attend Surviving India: Stories of 25 Days 25 Trains, on August 16.

Sachin Bhandary

This was a self-imposed challenge in which he lived on 25 Indian trains for 25 days while he explored the whole country. "People keep asking me to narrate my experiences from my odd travels. While I maintain a blog, www.theoddtraveller.in, my friends suggested that I do a talk and that's how this one got scheduled' ", says Bhandary.

He has observed that people find this particular journey most interesting and adds, "This could probably be because it was a pan India trip and travelling on trains for a month does not fit the conventional idea of an adventure.

It is a perfect example of an ‘Odd Trip'". Interested folk can show up at The Hive in Bandra on August 16, where his talk will take place. Tickets can be booked on www.bookmyshow.com as well as the venue.

Kitne saal hue?
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Sholay (it released on August 15, 1975), Universal music will release a 40th Anniversary Collection of the cult film.

It will feature the entire OST (dialogues + soundtrack) of the movie clocking beyond two hours. Album will be available for digital download, exclusively on iTunes on August 15.

Solo on the shehnai
Namrata Gaikwad, one of the few shehnai players in India, renders notes from the instrument at the Peshkar Foundation's tribute to Pandit Taranath Rao at Tardeo, on Sunday.

Namrata Gaikwad plays the shehnai at a recent performance in Mumbai. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Hailing from a family of shehnai players, she has been trained by her parents, shehnai musicians, Pramod Gaikwad (grandson of the renowned Pandit Shankarrao Gaikwad) and Seema Gaikwad. Jeffrey Feldman, a 67-year-old LA-based pakhawaj player also performed at this event.

Amre takes SPG crease
It was a rain slicked Sunday, (August 9) morning at our favourite hunting ground, Shivaji Park. There was a buzz outside the space all of that Sunday, as members voted for a new President. With the results arriving on Monday (yesterday) morning, it was Praveen Amre, winning and the former India cricketer is now president of the SPG (Shivaji Park Gymkhana), beating the Ajit Wadekar panel.

Praveen Amre. Pic/Shadab Khan

Asked about how he felt contesting against Wadekar, who was manager of the Indian cricket team when Amre played, Amre admitted, "It was a difficult week for me, I have a lot of respect for him, like everybody else so, I have to say that it was a bit emotional.

Yet, I must say I took the decision after a lot of thought and my team/panel won 17 of the 22 seats proving that we could win the trust of the members (more than 1,000 voted) as a panel or a team. I think the other team did not have a panel that could win the trust of the voters. In the end, life teaches you at times to look at the practical, not just the emotional," signs off the new Prez, who begins his innings today.