Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Rane Ashish

Flight of fancy

A young man leaps from the top of one vanity van to another as his friend awaits his turn at Goregaon East.

Smoking out a case

Over the weekend, fans of Baker Street's most famous fictional resident, Sherlock Holmes, celebrated his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 162nd birth anniversary. This diarist had recently reviewed a book The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer by Shrabani Basu that revealed the author's friendship with a Parsi, George Edalji. Doyle helped clear his name in one of England's most dramatic cases of the 20th century. The book unravels minute details about Doyle's craft while creating the world-famous detective, including the Indian connection throughout his mysteries. Holmes was so well informed about Indian tobaccos that while solving his cases, he could immediately identify when a man smoked an Indian hookah or if the residue was the famed black ash of Trichinopoly or Trichy (today's Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu). In fact, these cigars were believed to be a favourite of Winston Churchill as well.

Play for a cause

City-based theatre group Rage is paying homage to people who work behind the scenes in theatre, with the online screening of their production, One on One India Special. All the proceeds from it will be donated to TheatreDost, an initiative that helps such back-end theatre workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. "If you love live entertainment and have been enriched by it, this is a cause worth supporting. These people are in dire need of help and there is no real government support," shared Rage co-founder Shernaz Patel. Log on to insider.in to purchase a ticket for the show, which is available on demand till May 30.

Look what's brewing in Colaba

Last year, the excise department tweaked laws to allow craft beer manufacturers to sell directly to their customers, instead of via restaurants. Gateway Brewing Company (GBC) has now gone a step further and launched its first-ever retail store, near the Gateway of India in Colaba. It's a 200-ft space that stocks signature brews including White Zen and Doppelganger. "We are only delivering from the outlet at the moment, but people can come physically to the shop when the situation normalises," shared GBC founder Navin Mittal.

Recipe for relief

Chef Anahita Dhondy made a difference while celebrating her birthday over the weekend. She hosted an online class where she shared recipes that her mum would make on her birthday when she was little. All the proceeds from the tickets were donated to NGO Kalap Trust, to help with their Covid-19 relief efforts in Uttarakhand's Tons Valley. "My mother would make chocolate cake, old-school sandwiches and Parsi croquettes for my birthdays, which I shared the recipes for," Dhondy told this diarist.

Mumbai on our mind

The folks at NGO Project Mumbai have their hands full. They have launched three initiatives to not just help people out during the pandemic, but also save the environment. One of the drives is titled Plastic Recyclathon, with people being encouraged to drop off waste plastic from their homes, at 25 locations across Mumbai. The accumulated plastic will be recycled to make benches for municipal parks in the city. That apart, they have started a campaign called Each One, Plant One, where they are offering plant saplings free of cost to Mumbaikars to grow in their homes. The organisers tell us that they have also started a facility to provide oxygen concentrators to any Covid-19 patient in Mumbai, for 15 days, free of cost. If you need one from them, call either 9821563248 or 7304036046.