Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

The colours of freedom

People celebrate Independence Day at a residential society in Sion.

Shedding light on Partition

Most of what we know about Partition comes from what we learnt in school and other historical texts. But the folks at online platform Indian History Collective now want to make sense of that tumultuous period through personal stories and insights that people can share. They are calling for submissions - in the form of video messages, audio notes or written text - where people share their memories of that era, whether it's happy or sad. Each submission needs to be accompanied with a photo or video, which will be posted on Indian History Collective's Instagram page in order to document that era. Those interested can write to indianhistorycollective.com by August 29.

Honey, I shrunk the Mawa Boi

Eid isn't quite Eid without sheer khurma, Easter without marzipan. And Parsi new year isn't "first class" without Parsi Dairy Farm's iconic mithai, the Mawa Ni Boi. It's basically a mawa and milk sweet meat moulded in the shape of a fish, complete with scales and fins; two red sequins making up the eyes. Fish has long been a symbol of fertility and regeneration, with the Zoroastrians of India or Parsis considering it auspicious enough to include in every wedding feast, and even decorating their threshhold with pescatarian designs of white chalk. On Parsi new year, which is being celebrated today, every self-respecting Zoroastrian home will prep for a grand lunch of dhan dar and macchi no patio (rice, dal and tangy fish relish).

To share the joy with family and friends, fish will be distributed - not raw or cooked - but sweet and moulded. The boi fish or mullet is inspiration for two of Mumbai's oldest sweet houses, Parsi Dairy Farm and N Lookmanji's, whose mawa ni boi fly off the shelves on this day. When this diarist made an early morning stop at Princess Street's landmark address over the weekend, the staff at Parsi Dairy Farm (PDF) was swarming around dozens of boxes of freshly moulded mawa ni boi stacked across the tables and floor. The only other sweet giving it competition that day seemed to be the sutarpheni. And interestingly, it seems that the "eat everything but in small portions" mantra is working at PDF too, with a truncated boi being introduced: an adorable mini that's barely four-inches long. At '67 a piece, we think it's perfect for gifting (keep away from vegetarians, because this time, not the ingredients, but the form will freak them out).

Feeling blue at Bandstand

With work ongoing to build the Coastal Road, beaches across Maharashtra have been inundated with concrete tetrapods that are part of the project. These have reduced the amount of sandy stretch available to citizens, much to the ire of activists opposed to the idea of the project. But the fact that the ones in Bandra's Bandstand are being painted with chemical blue colour has irked them even further. "Bandstand is a unique problem, because the authorities removed the tetrapods from Haji Ali and put them there when it wasn't needed. Residents objected to it, but the area is looked after by a trust and the powers that be got a green signal from it to put the tetrapods there. From Haji Ali to Carter Road to Juhu to Versova, these tetrapods have eaten up the beaches across Mumbai's shoreline," activist Zoru
Bhatena told this diarist.

Getting a new look

Recently, Usha Thakkar (in pic), president of Mani Bhavan, a museum at Gamdevi that's dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, revealed that the entire space will be revamped later this year to make it more youth-friendly. We spoke to Yogesh Kamdar, the museum's honorary secretary, to find out more about the plans and he said that the new additions will include interactive kiosks with touch screens. "There were some issues with water seepage because of the weather conditions in Mumbai. [Architect] Abha Lambha had done some reinforcement work at Mani Bhavan 15 years ago and she is in charge of the revamp this time too, since she knows every part of the place. We will also arrange the displays in such a manner that more photos can be accommodated," he said.