Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Mind the gap

Commuters walk on railway tracks across a workshop near Lower Parel railway station

Playing the family tune

(From left) Conductor Ernst Hoetzl and violinist Ralph De Souza in rehearsal. Pic Courtesy/@bombaychamberorchestra

One of the city's oldest music groups, Bombay Chamber Orchestra, returned to the Sophia Bhabha Auditorium on Saturday for the third concert of their diamond jubilee series this year. While the concert had been in plans for a while, it also marked a sentimental reunion for the orchestra and Austrian conductor Ernst Hoetzl. "Next year will complete 40 years. My first concert in the city was in 1984. This will be my first concert with the orchestra since 2019," he shared. This time though, Hoetzl is joined by his wife, Marianne and son, Stephan, in the concert. "My wife is playing the first flute, while my son is playing the double bass," he revealed. The performances included a Mozart Overture, Franz Schubert's Symphony No 3 and the Romanian Dances by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok - collected over years of music research by the composer himself, he shared. But the highlight was a solo performance of Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto by Ralph De Souza. "He is a fantastic man and a wonderful violinist. He has been part of quite a few prestigious string quartets," the conductor told this diarist.

A record-breaking present

Dwit Nandu prepares for a dive in his scuba gear

Borivali's Dwit Nandu became the world's youngest PADI-certified junior open water diver on last week. He took the test on his 10th birthday, which is the minimum age to become a diver. His present, in the form of the certificate, arrived the next day. His father, who is also a certified deep sea diver, Amit Nandu (inset) told us, "He underwent rigorous training over a year. My elder son became a junior sea diver at the age of 14, which is very young, too. I remember that when Dwit came out of the water on his birthday, he had a small smile on his face, as if he'd completed a marathon. He didn't understand the magnitude of his achievement because he'd seen his elder brother go through the same process. It was something that was normal for him. But that clearly wasn't the case with the world," he laughs. When we asked him about his reaction, he said, "A few days ago, India reached the moon. On my son's birthday, I feel like I reached there, too." He added that there is a lot of training now coming Dwit's way. We say, he's ready for a deep dive into the subject.

Wave the flag

The QKnit Foundation has announced an interesting photo campaign to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Section 377 judgement on September 6. Called Har Dil Rainbow, the campaign calls for people to share photos of themselves with a rainbow element, which will be posted on the Foundation's social media pages. "Whenever there's a conversation around the LGBTQiA+ community, people have this perception that it's an urban elite issue. So, we came up with this idea that will give queer people from smaller towns an opportunity to be seen. And what better way to club it with the anniversary?" Sumit Pawar, the founder, told this diarist.

Would you have betted on that?

This year there are no new candidates for the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) committee elections. So, the same committee, having filed their nomination for re-elections holds the reins (pun intended, yes, horse boss!) at the apex club for Western India racing. This is a huge change, considering the club's elections were bitterly fought in the past. This diarist recalls teams fighting for votes, parties thrown for voters (club members) for at least a week before the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for elections, fierce wooing of the press and extreme rivalry at times between different camps. In the mid-2000s, if one recalls correctly there were so many parties at the turf club in the run up to the polls, a member cited in a newspaper report that his wife was so happy they had not cooked dinner in a week! At one time, the State Government had even instituted a Code of Conduct which stipulated that candidates must not hold parties in the run-up to lure voters. Considerable mudslinging, high profile resignations, poison pen letters in email boxes and much else would dominate the run-ups to the coveted seats, though all this had watered down for a few years. Today, though, there were no nominations by new candidates for the committee. Well, who would have bet on that? Not even the most seasoned punter, we think. Like they say, racing throws up surprises, both on the turf and off.