Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Whispers

Marathon on a soundtrack
After its debut in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014, Mumbai will be hosting the famed Music Run in January next year along with Delhi.

Participants at Mumbai Marathon

For those of you who may not be aware of this unique concept, Music Run is a non-competitive 5km marathon, where in participants run, walk or dance through the entire stretch, listening to songs from a pre-set playlist.

The song that gets played the most or shared on Facebook, becomes the top song of the event. Organised in India by Baseline, Music Run will take place simultaneously in nine countries including India.

The mall with the song
When we recently came across R.City ft. Adam Levine, we thought the artiste is coming to the mall located in a suburb in the city or has dedicated a song to it. R City is also written the same way that the mall writes their name.

Adam Levine

We had a good laugh when we realised that "Locked Away" is a song by Virgin Islands production duo Rock City (also known as R City) featuring Adam Levine, lead singer of band Maroon 5. The song was released on June 29, 2015.

Century of AGMs
Guess who hit a century yesterday? Or what hit a century, to be specific. The Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), western India racing's apex body, marked its 100th Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday at the picturesque Mahalaxmi venue.

Winning horse Be Safe finishing the race at Mahalaxmi Racecourse. File Pic

While reports elsewhere cite the goings on at this landmark AGM yesterday, we can only say it is champagne time for an institution holding AGMs for 100 years. To rewind to 100 years ago, one wonders what the RWITC AGMs were then.

Were the men in top hats ekdum British burra sahib racing style? Did the women carry parasols, memsahib style? Who knows but it is fun to let the imagination gallop (pun intended). Meanwhile, we can only wonder whether a lady would have fainted if the gentlemen used unsavoury language during the AGMs those days.

Pass the smelling salts, please. Today, of course, no woman would faint at any such phrases used post the election results which take place on AGM days. Ah, times, they are always a changin' and the ladeeeeez like the gents are sometimes not so genteel when it comes to the rough stuff on the turf.

Art rebellion
Artist Fabien Charuau's ongoing exhibition, A Thousand Kisses Deep, that opened in the city on August 14, is inspired by the soft, sexual revolution taking place in India. It displays of computer-generated art works of couples displaying their love in the form of photographs on social media.

Fabien Charuau with artworks from his exhibition titled A Thousand Kisses Deep. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Opening at a time when Mumbai saw the raids at Madh Island, the show generated quite a buzz in the media and the art community. Talking about the response to his show, the artist told us, "It was quite elating to see the response from the art community.

This type of art (Generative Art) is, after all, very new for the country. I started my project, A Thousand Kisses Deep before the prevalent moral policing started hitting Mumbai. As an artist, I feel very excited that during the time of the exhibition, in a way, it echoes the current online rebellion to this policing."

Celebrating a decade
With ITC Grand Central celebrating 10 years of its signature restaurant Kebabs & Kurries, the hotel will bring together 8 chefs from across ITC Hotels under one roof, including the legendary chef JP Singh (in pic) till September 13