Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Chal Beta selfie le le re

Actor Disha Patani shows how to treat fans right by very graciously obliging one with a selfie at Bandra on Sunday. Pic/Shadab Khan

You've got style, sister

If you've been following the Kapoor (Sonam and Rhea) sisters or designer Masaba Gupta, you would be aware of the deep ties they share, evident by the countless videos the ladies seem to be sharing every weekend, of them chilling together and having the ideal girl time we all need. So, in a recent AMA session, the designer did on Instagram, it wasn't a surprise that many people were asking her about her friendship with the stylish sisters, besides generic questions like the meaning of her name ("princess" in Swahili) and book recommendations (Gupta picked Ikigai and Fountainhead).

Masaba has known Sonam (left) and Rhea (right) since she was 11

She clarified that it wasn't a recent union, contrary to what fans have been wondering, for the Kapoor sisters and Gupta go way back to when the designer was 11 years old and attended kathak classes with the two. But she seems to share a different dynamic with them. She crowned Sonam as her first muse, who occasionally asks her "inappropriate questions" about her love life. But Rhea was the person who pulled her out of a "near creative meltdown in 2016" and continues to do so. Well, we hope things never change because these girls seem to be living life to the fullest in each other's company.

Maximum audience

New York-based author Suketu Mehta who is best kn­own for his 2004 title Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found that earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination, launched his new title at the New York Public Library (NYPL) last weekend.

Suketu Mehta

Called This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto, the book draws from Mehta's own experience of moving from Mumbai to Britain and the US. And in stark contrast to the racist comments he has been receiving on Twitter, it wasn't surprising to see the author taking to Instagram to share that the launch opened to a sold-out audience. Hope Mehta's city fans don't have to wait too long for the Mumbai launch.

Make a run for fitness

Gul Panag's social media is full of pictures of her in the gym, when she isn't posting about her son playing with her beagles at home. And the former actress just seems to be getting fitter and slimmer with age. She recently revealed her latest fitness strategy, while on day 20 of her 25-day challenge, which essentially is: 25 days, 25 minutes of running, regardless of distance and with no days off. In her post, she also wrote about falling off the wagon while trying to pursue a fitness regimen.

"Sometimes I jump back on. And sometimes it's tough to resume. So I have a trick to get back on the wagon. 1. Log everything I eat 2. Do a 14/21 day challenge to kick-start things. Exercise is now my coping mechanism. It helps me get through days that are tough [sic]," she wrote, meaning here's a challenge you too can take part in!

Karsh's hidden talent

If you have genuine talent in one form of the creative arts, chances are that you'll be pretty adept at some other forms as well. Writers are often imaginative painters, actors are sometimes more than capable musicians, and musicians can sometimes shake a leg better than many others.

This was reinforced when Karsh Kale recently posted a throwback video, of him as a 10-year-old performing at a talent contest during his cousin's birthday party. In it, little Kale is breaking, the technical term for break-dancing, so expertly that if you'd been there, you'd bet that the kid would grow up to become a professional dancer. Except, of course, Kale went on to choose percussion instruments as the tools of his trade, meaning what the dance world lost was music's gain.

The curtain falls in Aram Nagar

Since its launch in February and through the whole of last year, The Castiko Space, a small and winsome performance venue in Verso­va's Aram Nagar, existed as a hub for Mumbai's artiste community, many of who dwell in the shore-lining neighbourhood. It became like the collective "happy place" for poets, artistes and performers alike. But Castiko's true virtue lay in it being able to serve as a conduit between and a microcosm of art makers and lovers in a city that is so very strapped for space.

So we were disappointed to find out that they'll be shutting down, as its founder, Shiv Tandon navigates pressing financial and legal predicaments clouding the venture. "I want to build something that is bigger, better and stronger and which serves the same purpose that the place did. I want to retain Castiko's essence, but in a manner which helps us explore possibilities of expanding and cultivating the idea of having a platform where people just come to express themselves," he told this diarist.

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