Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Divine intervention
Cousins and actors Sharbani Mukherjee and Kajol offer prayers at their family's Durga Puja celebrations in Vile Parle. Pic/Satej Shinde

Rimzim Dadu and David Abraham & Rakesh Thakore showed us heavenly sarees could look equally handsome on men too. Pics/Fashion Design Council of India Instagram account

Masculinity doesn't come from clothes or make-up
The timing couldn't be more perfect. 06.09.2018 was a historic date for the Indian LGBTQAI community when the Supreme Court struck down the archaic section 377, a law that criminalised consensual sex between adults. To celebrate the victory, a motley crew of 40 designers including Rajesh Pratap Singh, Anavila Misra, Varun Bahl, Manish Arora, Wendell Rodricks, Rahul Mishra, Amit Aggarwal, Dev R Nil and Manish Malhotra celebrated the idea of equality with a rainbow-themed show that concluded the Lotus Make-Up India Fashion Week on October 13 in New Delhi.

Confronting norms and often sidestepping them is what defines Arjun Saluja's gender-free design DNA. He played with the idea of duality into one impeccably tailored outfit - a menswear lapel collar long jacket attached to a dress with leg of mutton sleeves

It was one glorious Saturday evening when the sombre runway smiled with kaleidoscopic hues, light-hearted bonhomie, and granted legal permission for designer Suneet Varma to kiss his husband Rahul Arora on the runway.

It wasn't just about visual tokenism for Gaurav Gupta, who chose Anjali Lama (left), India's first transgender model, to walk the ramp in his famed hybrid saree-gown that flickered with rainbow LED lights. Though we'd vote for the designer's own ruffled-collared orange jumpsuit with zipper details and retro '80s pin-back button - a wicked nod to the art of gender bending

It is common knowledge that fashion is known to effect change, and with politics behind dress codes igniting debates on gender fluidity, we bring you four renegade designers who imagined a future with men leading the way in flipping tired clothing norms.

Divya Dutta with Khushwant Singh's son and editor Rahul Singh at the litfest

The hills are alive
For seven years now, as Kasauli's air gets nippy in October, the picturesque little hill town in Himachal Pradesh prepares to pay tribute to one of its most famous residents, the late literary legend Khushwant Singh. The 2018 edition of Khushwant Singh Litfest, which concluded over the weekend, saw several names from Mumbai, including screenwriter Saeed Mirza, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra and actors Divya Dutta and Rahul Bose, participate in discussions and reading sessions. Dutta read Amrita Pritam's poetry in a session called Humari Amrita, where she also shared the impact the eminent poetess's verses have had on her.

A Spanish sojourn in BKC
The origins of tapas - small plates of food traditionally served with drinks in Spain - lie in an enterprising move when pub owners in the European country covered glasses of beer with the plates to prevent fruit flies from falling into the beverage (they added food to the plates as a sign of courtesy to their customers). That being the case, it's a concept that should work well across India as well, given the army of flies that we have. The only apprehension being the fact that we usually want more bang for our buck, so small plates might not wash with local patrons. But we will find out if this fear holds any water after October 26, when a new Spanish-inspired tapas bar launches in the crowded F&B space of BKC. UNO MAS has a menu that's composed wholly of nibbles, each priced at '200. It has a wide range of meat dishes, including chorizo, pork crackling and quail. The place also has dishes inspired by Mexican and Argentinean cuisine.

Participants listen to the Reverend (facing) at the archives

A date with history
It can be quite a magical feeling to step inside a space in the city that is almost as old as the very land on which it was built, as this diarist found out during an earlier walk at St Thomas Cathedral in Fort. It is among the handful of sites that exist in the same radius around which the original city of Bombay grew. Now in its 300th year, the tercentenary committee of the landmark has been engaging people to learn more about its historic origins since walking past its plaques and epitaphs is like scanning through a mini chronicle of the rise of the city itself. In their most recent edition, Reverend Avinash Rangayya, who, we must add, doubles up wonderfully as a seasoned guide, took a fresh batch of participants around the cathedral, all the way up to the spire. The walk included some of the otherwise lesser-seen sights of the site, including its archives that seem to have survived the city's tropical weather. Some of the treasures that the group got to see were all the registered birth and death records, many of which date back to as early as the 18th century.

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