Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Super Test

Can't beat Oz on this score
Trust the Aussies to trump other countries when it comes to promoting cricket. Earlier this week, Cricket Australia used some innovation to announce the squad for the first Test against India starting on December 6 - through a short film with backyard cricket as the theme. Innovation was the name of the game 40 years ago too, when Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket assigned advertising agency Mojo in 1978 to come up with an anthem for the Australian WSC team. The 60-minute jingle went like this: They've been training all the winter, And there's not a team that's fitter, And that's the way it's gotta be. 'Cos you're up against the best y'know.This is Super Test y'know. And you've gotta beat the best the world has seen.

Lillee's pounding down like a machine. Pascoe's making divots in the green.
Marsh is takin' wickets. Hooksie's clearing pickets.
And the Chappells' eyes have got that killer gleam.

Mr Walker's playing havoc with the bats.
Redpath, it's good to see ya back.

Laird is making runs.
Dougie's chewing gum.
And Gilmour's wielding willow like an axe.
C'mon Aussie, c'mon, c'mon C'mon Aussie, c'mon!

A tale of two dreamers
There has always been something very endearing about the senior Murthy couple, and how they worked as a team to lead Infosys to newer heights. Now, we hear, Narayana and Sudha Murthy are working on a first-of-its-kind book on their lives with Devi Yesodharan.

Narayana and Sudha Murthy

The author, who was the former speech-writer to Narayana, is penning a tell-all story, titled Mr and Mrs Murthy (Juggernaut) that is set to release by the end of this year. The book will document the early years of their lives, and how implausible their dreams of starting an IT company, had been. We are waiting.

Alice in Kala Ghoda
We love collabs, and this is one we're certainly looking forward to. Shubhika Davda, founder of Papa Don't Preach, is going to a host an art and fashion installation at the three-storeyed Pernia's Pop Up Shop in Kala Ghoda mid-December. The week-long event will see the store dressed up like Wonderland, to borrow the theme from Davda's latest collection, One Way Ticket, which features an Alice (in Indian clothing) as the main protagonist.

There will be Instagram baits such as tea parties, clock corridors, a dream passage, a space full of cotton clouds, light installations and curiosities everywhere. Davda is also planning to break down all the compartments in the world of art: there will be fashion, theatre, dance, music and visual art. As Davda says, "We want to bring together people who love what they do."

More of Dindi
In April 2011, Swapnil More, a descendant of sant Tukaram, started the virtual dindi on Facebook to help bring a thousand-year-old palkhi tradition to the world using social media. Seven years later, More has been nominated as one among the 50 Most Influential Strategy Leaders Awards in digital marketing for his campaign.

"My target audience was the youth who can connect with this glorious cultural heritage with a click. It was very challenging but, we have managed to surmount all obstacles," says More, whose reach is two million.

Sacred Heart is sparkling new
Today's Sunday mass at Santacruz's Sacred Heart Church will have a special meaning. The 5,000-strong parish has plenty to be thankful for, as the Classical Revival-style landmark built in 1936, will be blessed by Bishop John Rodrigues after an eight-month-long renovation. "It's a very happy day for us. The last restoration was done a decade ago, so this was long due.

Father Franklyn Mathias has played a key role in making all of us aware of the building's heritage value," says Vernon D'Cruz, parishioner, recounting how the church was the nucleus around which the community and the suburb grew. Some of the quaint bungalows and leafy lanes around still stand testimony to a neighbourhood that was. The church building, made from Kurla basalt stone, can be seen from SV Road characterised by the teak wood boarding roof and Mangalore tiling.

Co-ordinated by conservation architect Vikas Dilawari and his team on behalf of the parish committee, the project involved restoring a structure that was perhaps one of the last few to have used Kurla stone. Renovation on this Grade II B structure included maintenance of the roof, its interiors and exterior façade. Look out for the stunning stained glass painting work above the entrance on the South and North side and the mezzanine overlooking the porch on the West. Late city historian and chronicler Teresa Albuquerque, who was a parishioner here, and best documented the suburb in her writings, must be smiling.

Uncomfortably numb

Actor Nandita Das finds an unexpected fan at a fundraiser in Mahalaxmi on Saturday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

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