Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Australian captain Tim Paine (left) speaks with his team's bowling coach David Saker in Dubai on October 7, 2018. Pic/Getty Images

When things don't match up!
It seems nothing can go right for Australian cricket. On Friday, the bowling coach of Tim Paine's beleaguered bunch, David Saker, caused a mini storm by saying on radio that the captain and his bowlers were not on the same page with regards to strategy for Day One of the ongoing Sydney Test match against India. "The bowlers wanted one thing. Tim wanted one thing. That's not been the case as the general rule but when you were watching from the sideline, you could see there was some confusion. It wasn't great and it doesn't always happen," Saker told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Saker is right, things like these don't happen often in cricket. This diarist recalls a rare incident during a cricket tour on which the Indians were not hitting the high notes. In those days, there were not many formal press interactions so there was the Indian coach on one side of the indoor nets in Adelaide telling journalists that the team was low on morale while on the other side, the captain insisted his team were in good spirits despite a string of losses. We couldn't tell who got it right in their judgment of the team's morale, but the tour ended disastrously.

A bridge from India to US
Composer-singer Somesh Mathur, who hails from Bandra, has been creating ripples in the American music circle with his new start-up. Titled Sweet Beat, it's a conduit to enable Indian artists overseas to cross over into the main stream American music industry.

Somesh Mathur

"The idea is to leverage a tech platform to gain access to unique artist capabilities and sounds from remote regions in India and the world," he says. What's more, his own album Time Stood Still has been accepted in 13 categories by The Recording Academy to consider for nominations for the 61st Grammy Awards.

A love letter to Europe
While author-historian William Dalrymple is currently busy prepping for the annual Zee Jaipur Literature Festival that kicks off later this month, his heartfelt ruminations on Europe are making a splash across Scotland. The Delhi-based Scottish writer and Indophile spent much of this week re-tweeting photographs of his verse shared by fans, which were on display on the walls of Edinburgh, as part of a unique art project called Message from The Skies.

The initiative saw Dalrymple along with several of Scotland's best artistes write love letters to Europe, to mark Scotland's shared historic, social and cultural connections with the continent. "In truth, we've always seen you as a lifeline, a counterbalance to our noisy neighbours in the South. It was they who voted for Brexit. Honestly, we didn't. Sixty-two per cent of us voted remain," an excerpt, from his verse read. India or Scotland, we can trust Dalrymple to tell it, for what it is.

Mothers and daughters
Playwright Irawati Karnik, who recently won the Anant Kanekar Puraskar award for her compilation of columns in a Marathi newspaper, has added another feather to her cap. Her Marathi play Chaapa Kata is getting an English revival by theatre director Anahita Uberoi this year. "It's a mother-daughter story, and the complicated relationship they share. They live in Nashik, and the small town also plays a role in their life," she said.

About six months ago, Uberoi and her mother, theatre director Vijaya Mehta, got in touch with Karnik. "I went over to her place and she and Vijaya bai listened to the play. They were both excited, and talked about the changes we will need to make." In the English adaptation, translated by Karnik, Kulkarni and Shivani Tanksale play the mother and daughter respectively.

This accolade was long overdue
Indian filmmaker Onir, who directed a movie ahead of its time - My Brother Nikhil - finally got his due at the 3rd edition of Likho Awards For Excellence in Media last week. Likho, an initiative of Bombay Dost and The Humsafar Trust, presented the director with the Trailblazer Award for portrayal of the LGBTQ community in his film.

Our diarist got a chance to speak to him, when he shared, "We faced a lot of challenges while making the film as our protagonist was gay. But, Sanjay Suri showed trust in us, and not just produced the film, but also played the lead. It has finally got its due at Likho Awards some 13 years later. The Humsafar Trust has always stood by me. I can only hope that others take cue."

The love birds fly back to the bay

Actors Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor return to the city after bringing in the New Year in New York and were spotted by the paparazzi at the international airport on Saturday. Pic/Sayeed Sameer Abedi

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