Mumbai diary: Tuesday Dossier

Dhoondhte reh jaaoge

Shraddha Kapoor struggles to spot someone at an event at a Worli five-star on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

A director scripts a new role

Theatre and food go hand in hand. Whether it's the high-energy fare that actors require to fuel themselves for the physically demanding medium, or just love for the process of cooking which, many theatrewallahs believe, is a performative art in itself, it can be said safely that artistes certainly don't belong in the "eat to live" category. Taking his love for food a step further is noted Pune-based theatre Mohit Takalkar. Having directed over 35 plays for his experimental theatre group, Aasakta Kala Manch, Takalkar has now opened his third F&B venture in the city, which is a restobar in Kothrud called New International Permit Room Bar, or NIPR. "I have trained as a chef at Dadar Catering College in Mumbai, but got more interested in theatre. So, my knowledge had got rusty. But I collaborated with a bunch of friends - all from varying backgrounds - and we pooled in our skills to start these restaurants," Takalkar told this diarist, adding that though people need affordable watering holes to unwind after a hard day's work, it's the food that draws them ultimately. "And that's what we have paid attention to."

Rolling in soon

The mind naturally teeters towards delicious hot dogs, gluten-loaded burgers and all kinds of sinful fast food when someone says food truck. But an unlikely collaboration might make you change your mind. To celebrate the third anniversary of his Mahalaxmi-based restaurant, chef Prateek Sadhu has joined hands with The Bombay Food Truck, which will be dishing out small plates prepared by the well-known chef. The truck will go around the city between September 13 and 21 and park itself intermittently between Lower Parel, Mahalaxmi and BKC. Speaking about the novel collaboration, Sadhu told this diarist, "We wanted to kick-start the celebrations with something exciting. The food truck will offer snacks and small plates made with ingredients I hauled up on my recent foraging trip to Ladakh, although presented in a more laidback format."

The write choices

The New India Foundation, which launched the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize last year for non-fiction titles, has announced the shortlist for the next edition. Manoranjan Byapari, Rohit De, Snigdha Poonam, Alpa Shah, Ornit Shani and Piers Vitebsky are the six people who stand a chance this time around, for books on subjects as varied as Naxalism and how India's youth hold the hope for the country's future. May the best one win, we say.

How we are wired in the Internet age

Has it ever happened to you that you were surfing the Internet and then terribly angry when the connection was lost abruptly? If the answer is yes, then you aren't the only who has had the same feelings in a similar situation. A survey titled Age of Rage was recently carried out across Indian metros to assess behavioural patterns when Wi-Fi connections are disrupted. A whole 68 per cent of those surveyed said that they feel angry and irritated when they lose the Internet all of a sudden. And 63 per cent said that they become aggressive if their phone is charging and someone unplugs it without informing them.

Groove to this

The city's gig calendar is heating up with a host of international artistes slated to perform in Mumbai and festival line-ups being revealed. Modern jazz great Kamasi Washington has already wowed Mumbaikars, and Grammy-winning star Jacob Collier is slated to play here this weekend. In further good news, it has now been announced that the city will get a brand new music property next month. Called Neon East Fest, it will involve a host of artistes from abroad, including the likes of electronica wiz kid Mura Masa and Phum Viphurit, an indie sensation from New Zealand. Now that's music to our ears.

Reading what's on Masaba's label

A company logo is crucial for any fashion label since people usually come to associate the brand with it. Designers often spend a lot of time pulling their hair while choosing it. But not Masaba Gupta. The designer revealed the story behind her logo to fans on social media recently. What happened is that Gupta was fresh out of college when a multi-designer store wanted to stock some of her clothes. But she didn't have a logo ready. So she decided on one in a mad rush and sped off to a small printing shop in Dadar to get it ready in time. At the last moment, she decided to add a red bindi. That bindi was later moved to the centre and the font was slightly altered to make it palatable for people in the West. Full marks to Gupta for her quick thinking, which helped her career get the kick-start it deserved 10 years ago.

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