Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

The birthday wave

Ranbir Kapoor greets fans gathered outside his Bandra residence to wish him on his birthday over the weekend. Pic/Shadab Khan

Nikhil loves the September sky

With the rains playing truant, the city is slowly moving towards the dreaded October heat. But the September sky is something to be cherished and TV presenter Nikhil Chinapa reminded us of that when he posted this picture saying.

"if you're in Mumbai and have an open terrace on the roof of your building, get up there and look out. You can see clearly for miles! Humidity is low right now and the good visibility will last till the mugginess that October brings, settles in."

And may we add, don't forget to take the camera along.

A crawling cricket anniversary

With the India v South Africa Test series close at hand, cricket lovers are set to see some attractive batting from both sides. And although the visiting Proteas won't have it easy against this well-oiled Indian team, their batsmen are not expected to crawl their way to significant scores. Gone are the days when batsmen took great pride in grinding their way and blunting bowling attacks.

But it's worth recalling one such innings that was played by India's opening batsman Anshuman Gaekwad against Pakistan a little over 36 years ago at Jalandhar. Gaekwad used up 652 minutes (that's nearly 11 hours) and 426 balls to 'achieve' the then slowest double-century in Test history. To understand that Gaekwad had good reason to be cautious on September 29, 1983, one has to glance at the scorecard - the next best score by an Indian on the score-sheet was Roger Binny's 54. The match was drawn and no victory was witnessed in the three-match series, but for Gaekwad, it was a memorable one.

A taste of Monaco

While Mumbai is becoming a melting pot of cuisines from around the world, it isn't often that the city's foodies get to savour dishes from Monaco.

Marcel Ravin, a Michelin star chef from the European nation, made that possible over the weekend when he whipped up his signature dishes, which included organic egg with truffle, and chocolate and passion fruit partition at a SoBo five-star. The chef, who's known for cooking with seasonal fruits and vegetables, wins our vote for being a strong proponent of the fight against food waste.

Some more hip-hop love

There's a new addition to the home-grown hip-hop scene in the city. Zakhmi, a track by Saifan (of the Aavrutti Quartet), is not only catchy, but it also has the blessings of a biggie in the Indian rap scene. For, the song has been produced by the label that rapper DIVINE launched earlier this year.

In the song, a young Saifan talks about staying real and fearless even as life pulls you down. "I wanted to make a song which defines my personality and philosophy. I've seen my fair share of ups and downs in life, but you still need to get up the next morning and march on," Saifan told us about the song.

A bohemian bash for the bestie

While it's been some days since model and host Shibani Dandekar brought in her 39th birthday, the celebrations continue.

The latest in the host of shindigs was a uniquely-themed party that designer Payal Singhal threw for her bestie. While pretty floral arrangements, fairy lights and candles made for cute boho-chic decor, a wild flower-themed fondant cake was our favourite.

And then there was the personalised birthday card that Singhal got done for Dandekar, which made all the other gal pals including Monica Dogra and Nisha Jhangiani go, aww. "She has the soul of a gypsy; the heart of a hippie; the spirit of a fairy," it said.

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