Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Bottled Emotions

A truck helper settles down for a journey from Boirvali station. Pic/Satej Shinde

Where literature and history meet

Dr Omkar Bhatkar

The lines between history and literature have often been blurry, and an interesting online talk, organised by charitable trust Kaash Foundation, in association with Bandra's St Andrews Centre for Philosophy and Performing Arts and institutions from Sri Lanka and Spain, will explore these intersections on May 30.

Devdutt Pattanaik

The keynote lecture will be delivered by author and Sunday mid-day columnist Devdutt Pattanaik. One of the speakers, Dr Omkar Bhatkar, co-founder and head of SAPP, elaborated about this talk, "I will be talking about Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his work that largely belongs to the realm of magical realism, but equally tells us the lesser documented history of Latin America. Similarly, another scholar will discuss Frida Kahlo and the revival of history through her costumes. This is a cerebral amalgamation of people to discuss, dissect and synthesise history and literature. It will be live-streamed on the foundation's YouTube channel."

Home super heroes

Kids engage themselves in household chores

When most professionals, including actors, businessmen and even sportspersons have been keen to learn new skills to keep boredom away with their WFH schedules, how can kids be left behind? With this in mind, The Sports Gurukul's (TSG) co-founders, Paresh Kothari and Jay Shah, launched TSG Home Task Fitness Champ, a nationwide initiative to encourage children to help their parents in household chores and display their newly-acquired skills online.

And the response was overwhelming. A whopping 2,00,000-plus children from 75 schools across 30 cities participated in the initiative with thousands of videos being uploaded on TSG's social media networks, showing little boys and girls washing vessels, sweeping floors or even cooking at home.

"The idea was two-fold. Firstly, it was to help children learn a new skill which will be beneficial to them in the long-run, and secondly, to help them utilise this period fruitfully," Shah told this diarist. School officials were pleasantly surprised to see their students perform household chores so efficiently. "We believe children can learn a lot from doing household activities and this education is beyond their scholastic knowledge," said Aditya Lohana, executive director of Chembur's The Green Acres Academy, whose students were among the participants.

Postcards for the City of Joy

While India continues to battle a pandemic and navigate a lockdown, some parts of the country - West Bengal and Odisha - were hit by cyclone Amphan last week. As we had reported in this page earlier, help has been pouring in from all quarters. Take for instance, 25-year-old student and filmmaker from Goa, Suyash Kamat, who has printed a batch of postcards of Kolkata that he's selling to raise funds for those affected by the disaster. Those interested in buying the postcards have to donate the money to any charity that's working towards providing relief and send him a screenshot.

"I study in a film school in Kolkata and was really heartbroken looking at the devastation in my campus, and in the city. My intention was to give people an incentive to donate. Many NGOs are working in specific areas, and if people identify with a certain cause, they can donate to that charity. For every R500 that people donate, they receive three postcards. I have taken these pictures over the past two years. I've raised about R25,000 since," he said. Write to him at suyashkamat5@gmail.com to lend your support.

Let's support the apron

The kitchen is a dynamic space; it obviously serves the basic need of feeding us, and it can also be a place that unites us with food and gives rise to empathy. This is why the NGO Action Against Hunger that's been busy with COVID-19 relief work, has tied up with chef Maria Goretti for an Instagram Live cooking session, titled Apron for a cause, to raise funds for families affected by the lockdown.

The idea is to cook easy recipes with and for kids. "So many kids are in the kitchen trying their hand at learning something new. I'm happy to share my skill to contribute to this cause," Goretti said.

A funny reunion

James Murray and Anand Chulani

In these testing times, a little positivity is keeping us all afloat. And so, city-based performance coach Anand Chulani will be hosting an Instagram live session this Saturday with popular improv artiste James Murray, known as James "Murr" on the American reality TV show Impractical Jokers.

The roommates from Georgetown University will be sharing anecdotes to help people negotiate these challenging times. "We had started an improv troupe in college. Today, we're from two separate spaces; I'm a success coach and he's the funniest guy on TV but we share a common passion: to help youngsters," Chulani said.

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