Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Carrying on with caricatures

If you doodle and are half decent at it, chances are that you hope someone will take notice someday. For budding artist Arpit Dudwewal, that dream was realised when the caricature he made of Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar was reposted by the couple recently. But this isn't his first caricature of a celeb. Dudwewal's Instagram page is also full of his creative takes on Ayushmann Khurrana, Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Sacred Games, one of Ranveer Singh wearing Thanos' gauntlet and a number of footballers including Messi.

Arpit Dudwewal

"I used to make caricatures earlier, but took it up seriously only around two months ago. I remember posting one of Vicky Kaushal in April, which he also posted on his Insta story. I was motivated and believed that I can do something in this field. Then I made one of Rajkummar Rao, and he liked the post!" Dudwewal told this diarist.

Prophetic words

Author William Dalrymple recently shared a sweet post looking back on Khushwant Singh's writings from 14 years ago, which also gave us a peek into the friendship the two authors shared. Captioned, "Prescient thoughts from Khushwant Singh 14 years ago... How I miss the old rascal..." the Scottish author and historian re-tweeted a post that comprised lines from Singh's book,

The End of India, which many thought applies today as well. The lines read, "Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonise in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there. A movement built on hate can only sustain itself by continually creating fear and strife. Those of us today who feel secure because we are not Mulims or Christians are living in a fool's paradise...."

Spilling onto Twitter

How much of your time do you spend laughing on a Monday? Possibly, none at all. But this week, we chanced upon a hilarious account that kicked the blues out of the window. A phrase we have often come across in different memes and Instagram stickers has now consolidated into a Twitter account - reminding you to drink water (@drinkwaterslut). The idea is simple, to keep you hydrated.

Just make sure you're not going through the page while drinking, because you'll be sure to splurt it out. With random tweaks of popular songs and tweets like, "'I wrote rolling in the deep because I love water.'

- Adele", this page is a rib-tickler as long as you have a stomach for the profanities. One would think a page with that name would have enough to rinse their mouth with, but more on that later.

A Deccan platter

Folks in and around Juhu-Versova Link Road have another reason to indulge as chef Sharath Kumar - who entered the Guinness World Records with his 60-hour cooking marathon - brings his expertise to the city.

Madrassam, a cloud kitchen, will be open for patrons starting today and on offer will be traditional recipes from the south, like Kerala's avial and kadala curry, and Karnataka's Coorgi chicken.

"As clichéd as it may sound, it was my mother who inspired me to cook and so, even today, a lot of my recipes are the ones I watched her cook while growing up. The idea behind this delivery outlet is to keep the dying techniques used to prepare traditional coastal South Indian food alive. And add a new touch to the dishes, without taking away from its roots," the chef told this diarist.

Coming together for justice

"Please do not call this a suicide. It is institutional murder," said Divya Kandukuri, a youth activist and journalist, who played a vital role in propelling #MeTooIndia and the mind behind the page EverydayCasteism. Kandukuri is known to be vocal and has done commendable work in creating mental health awareness among the marginalised. And so it follows that she's also come out in support of the protest march being organised in honour of Dr Payal Dalvi, who took her life after being harassed by seniors at BYL Nair Hospital on May 22.

Speaking about the protest, which is taking place today, Kandukuri shared with this diarist, "It's just so real. I wouldn't say that I am surprised, because it happened to us and it happens to every Bahujan student in Indian universities. We need to put pressure on the police and the institution, because the three people accused haven't been arrested. How is it possible that they are absconding? They are not criminals who can go and hide somewhere, so this is a clear case of complicity. The college administration, too, needs to take action and cancel the licences of the accused. How can they practise medicine if they killed someone?"

When bindra flush-ed

India's only individual Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra gets goofy at a book launch held at a Byculla museum on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

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