Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Conversation, what's that?

Staffers at a salon in Lalbaug appear hooked on to their mobile phones as they wait for their customers to drop in.

Spread the word, student

A moment from the previous edition of the fest. PIC COURTESY/INSTAGRAM

Fests are an opportunity to network with other likeminded students. Taking it a notch higher, IIT Bombay has announced a College Connect Programme for their upcoming annual fest, Mood Indigo. "Students can become ambassadors of the fest.

In turn, we give them incentives such as internship opportunities, courses and accommodation during the fest. We will assign tasks, and reward them with points. This is a fun way for non-IIT students to feel like a part of the legacy of this cultural fest," explained Anushka Khowala (right), media and publicity head.

A question over punctuation marks

Rigveda manuscript in Sanskrit on paper, India, early 19th c. in Devanagari script with cantillation marks (udatta, anudatta, svarita) in red. Eames Collection, Chicago, no. 1956 PIC COURTESY/ Newberry Library, Chicago

While we all seem to know our hyphens and colons well, language researcher Raamesh Raghavan (inset) believes that when it comes to Indian forms of punctuation, a huge question mark looms over most of us. An online session conducted by Raghavan later this month will deep-dive into how Indians punctuated before adopting European practices.

"If you look at our ancient manuscripts, you'll find that there are no conventional punctuation marks. Yet, readers were able to break them down into components. The session will explore concepts like poetic meter and cantillation that were used extensively," Raghavan shared. Cantillation refers to notations used to convey the tone, and emphasis to be put on a word while reading out from a manuscript. "These were primarily used in religious scriptures like the Vedic texts and the Holy Quran to denote the intonation to be followed while reciting from them. As you can imagine, these details played a vital role in conveying the correct meaning of the texts," he shared with this diarist.

Scanning for safety in Goregaon

A child receives

City-based organisations Project Chetna and Reachout Foundation have cracked the code to children's safety in the city. Last week, 175 scannable QR code pendants were gifted to specially-abled children at the Punarvas Special School in Goregaon.

The QR code pendants

"The QR codes, when scanned, reveal credentials like name, age, address and contact information of the guardian. When specially-abled children leave their homes [alone], they often lose their sense of direction. We hope the pendants come in handy to them," Akshay Ridlan, founder, Project Chetna.

It's raining fruit saplings

The nursery has a diverse species of fruit saplings for sale

With the monsoon settling in, Panvel-based Go Green Nursery is encouraging Mumbaikars to make hay while the sun (doesn't) shine. "Monsoon is the best time to plant fruit saplings in the city. The two-month period that begins in July offers the right growing conditions," shared Ekta Soni, co-ordinator. The ongoing Fruit and Plant Party at the nursery has a diverse showcase of species like avocado, passion fruit and cashew to pick from. "For the time-strapped urban citizens, we also offer end-to-end services from landscaping to maintenance," Soni revealed further. Those keen to begin the fruitful journey can log on to @gogreennursery.

A platter of positivity

Neurodiverse chefs at work in the Juhu-based café

Yash Charitable Trust's initiative Cafe Arpan added another feather to their cap last week. They were featured in a BBC podcast alongside two cafés in Paris and Turkiye. In the episode, Happy Cafes, Sushama Nagarkar, managing trustee, gave the listeners a glimpse of what it is like in the Juhu café. "I recorded the sounds of Mumbai, like the passing-by auto rickshaws, alongside the staff working. It was a wholesome experience. Other interviewees also claimed how cafés managed by neurodiverse people are truly happy and positive places to be in. It goes on to show how viable the industry is for them," she shared.