Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Priyank Sukhija

Watering hole raises the bar
Thursday saw the opening of the second city outlet of Delhi-based restaurateur Priyank Sukhija's Lord of the Drinks. The massive space covers 13,700 sq ft, which includes the Rocky Star cocktail Bar and Plum Cafe, where you can purchase the decor pieces of the restaurant (though much has been written about the interiors of the space, there were no hooks for bags in the ladies' loo). We were told that waiters cover almost 7 km on their feet in a night.

The highlight of the space is a 200-ft island bar, touted as Asia's longest. And to make some noise about this, Sukhija planned a massive Jager bomb domino on the bar featuring 500 glasses, which took two hours just to set up. A heady affair, indeed.

Techno takeover
The festival season towards the end of the year is when international bands start flying into the country like bees aiming for a sunflower. But that doesn't mean that the city is deprived of international acts on other months. It's just that these acts that come down during the summer and monsoon seasons are usually DJ set-ups (one possible reason being that they are cheaper to fly down). For example, earlier this month, a suburban nightclub brought down Peggy Gou, a Berlin-based DJ who's a fast riser in the global electronic circuit.

Helena Hauff

And now, another bigwig from Germany is ready to take Famous Studios by storm this weekend. Helena Hauff is a Hamburg-based turntable expert who plays an old-school type of techno music at a time when that sound is gradually consigning straight-up EDM to the sidelines. Her gig has Mumbai's party crowd jumping in excitement already, and all roads for them will lead to Mahalaxmi today, which is where the venue is. We'll be joining them. But in the meantime, we will also be counting the months to the festival season, since nothing, in our books at least, beats a proper band getting up on stage and belting it out.

What a debut
"No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear," said George Bernard Shaw of the Shakespearean tragedy, something that writers down the generations have agreed with, while adapting the classic to their own world.

Preti Taneja

British-Indian human rights activist and writer Preti Taneja took that route too, and did a fine job of it. Her book, We That Are Young (Penguin Random House), has been awarded the prestigious Desmond Elliott Prize, an award for the best debut novel in English, published in the UK. The novel revolves around a corporate empire in Delhi and the family that runs it. Taneja's work has also earned accolades from one more Shakespeare fan. "A poetic tour de force" is what filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj called it.

Thane's witness
There was a time when Mumbai was the unknown blimp on the map while its neighbour was a bustling port city ruled by countless powers, from the Shilaharas to the English. Such fascinating facts are packed into Witness, a richly illustrated book that will be released tomorrow, on the feast of St John the Baptist at the historic church.

The grand occasion for its parishioners will be celebrated by His Eminence Rev Cardinal Oswald Gracias (Archbishop of Bombay) and Bishop Allwyn D'Silva (Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bombay, zonal Bishop of Thane, Navi Mumbai and Raigad District Deaneries, and Bishop-in-charge of the Social Apostolate in the Archdiocese), who will release the book. At a press conference yesterday, its editor, Dr Fleur D'Souza, historian and former Vice Principal (Arts) of St Xavier's College, spoke about the historic past, its tiny community and a 700-year-old connect with Christianity.

Women steer the way forward
A tweet that a user called Vijayeta had posted on her timeline reminded us of how if there's one city in the country where women can roam the streets at night with gay abandon, it's Mumbai. Here's what happened: Her taxi broke down at an unearthly hour near Powai.

So, she hailed an auto rickshaw and when it stopped, she was pleasantly surprised to find a woman driving it . The two struck up a pleasant conversation, which went so well that Vijayeta ended her post with, "She dropped me home and it felt so good to live in a city where women do feel safe enough to be out at all hours. Really hope it stays that way!" Well, amen to that.

The perfect boss

Aamir Khan exits Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Thursday, with a wheelchair-bound member of his personal team in tow. Pic/Satej Shinde

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates