Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Bald and the beautiful

Two foreigners walk past a couple posing for a photoshoot near Gateway of India at Apollo Bunder.

Furry therapy friends in deed

Students interact with the therapy dogs

Nothing puts a smile on the face of this diarist like a furry friend. So, we were glad to learn that IIT Bombay hosted a session with therapy dogs ahead of their placement season a week ago. "It is a stressful time for students on the campus, and the institution invited them to help students escape their stress," shared Gayatri Ayyer, co-founder of Pawsitive Synergies. With seven dogs accompanied by three psychologists, the group hosted a week-long session. "At first, students were hesitant. Some of them shared that they had a fear of dogs, but we encouraged them with some simple exercises and suggestions. Soon, they relaxed and started to enjoy it," she said.

Sounds like Christmas

Convent Street in Christmas mode in Bandra

This is the season of giving, and Bandra is turning up in full force. Actor Shahriyar Atai has been busy with a series of concerts across the neighbourhood. Dressed as an elf, the Grinch, and even a young Santa Claus, the actor has already done three charity shows this week.

Shahriyar Atai performs during a previous concert

"It is all about spreading the festive cheer. I sang a parody carol on the condition of Bandra's streets. All part of the fun," he shared, noting that all proceeds go to charity. With The Sassy Songbirds, Doc Jarvis and other artistes involved, the event at Convent Street earlier this week saw a full house.

Building sustainable futures

With every passing day, there is a need to educate the future about sustainability. For the last three months, Sudipta Dhruva's The School Chameleons Program has been in conversation with over 350 schools across Mumbai, trying to understand new ideas for conservation that have found their way into practical education. "We realised that a lot of schools have done work in line with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). If these lessons are shared, they could help others," Dhruva (below) revealed. Initiatives included ideas on plastic integration, water conservation, or even simple self-care such as a water bell to remind students and teachers to hydrate themselves. The programme concluded with a finale in Ghatkopar earlier this week, "We had identified roughly six SDGs on which schools submitted their stories. This was a teacher/principal programme but was interesting to students as well," she said.

Spilling verses into the new year

In the age of Instagrammable verses and instant lyrics, seven years can seem a long time for any community of poets. The city-based Spill Poetry group will celebrate the achievement with an open mic session this weekend. "Usually, we have a quiet celebration, but it feels special this time," revealed co-founder Syed Mohammed Zaidi AKA Daaniyal (inset). While open mics remain a regular practice, he said the future will see them focus on building a community. "There are a lot of platforms, but few communities that encourage and mentor poets. We hope to do that through our activities," he told this diarist.

That's how we roll

Children at the school with their boards

With their first-ever skateboarding session launched earlier this week, you will now find students at The Dharavi Dream Project having fun with their new wheels. "While hip-hop is about music, skateboarding is an extended part of the genre," Dolly Rateshwar, co-founder of the hip-hop school, told this diarist. Even though the school always wanted to have skateboarding as a subject, they lacked the infrastructure or boards till now. The inauguration was attended by famous city-based hip-hop personalities, including MC Altaf, D'Evil, Mooz and Mihir Joshi. "We will have two weekly sessions; in the school and the second one on Sunday at a skateboarding park in Dharavi," shared Rateshwar.