Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Aditi Haralkar

Cloud-capped towers

Clouds hover above the city skyline as viewed from Mahim Beach.

A retrospective for Shyam Babu

Shabana Azmi and Anant Nag in Ankur. File Pic

Parallel cinema will return to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for a rare celebration of filmmaker Shyam Benegal's career starting today. "We had not held a retrospective in five years, and it felt like apt," shared Niranjan Mehta, advisor and one of the curators of the festival.

Shyam Benegal

Starting today, the festival will screen five major works of Benegal, including Ankur, Manthan, Nishant, Bhumika and Zubeidaa. "Benegal sir will attend the opening day of the festival today, with Shabanaji [Azmi]," shared Mehta. As for fans, entry is free, but on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Let's plant green modaks

Participants make (right) green modaks at the workshop

Subhajit Mukherjee of Mission Green Mumbai has created one lakh plantable modak-shaped seeds. "Each of these modaks contain 30 to 40 seeds of tulsi inside," Mukherjee told this diarist. These modaks will be sent to schools and institutions across India. He has trained nearly 2,000 students across different workshops to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in an eco-friendly manner. These seeds will germinate and grow within 15 days. "The idea is to present people with a medicinal plant that will stay with them forever," Mukherjee concluded.

When the maestro met the poet

The curiosity of the creative genius that is Zubin Mehta can surprise the lot. The maestro, who is in town for a series of engagements and concerts, took some time out for a quick visit to The Asiatic Society of Mumbai. "On our last Foundation Day in November 2023, we had announced him as an honorary member of the Society. So, when we found out he was visiting Mumbai, we offered to do a personal felicitation. During our conversation at the ceremony on August 20, he happened to show interest in the rare manuscript of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri that is among the society's priceless collections," shared the society's president, Vispi Balaporia.

Zubin Mehta examines a rare coin (right) Vispi Balaporia presents the maestro with the citation for honorary fellowship of the Society

The hand-written and illuminated copy of the manuscript dates back to 1430, and was left to the Society by Mountstuart Elphinstone. "Owing to its rarity, we keep it in a State Bank vault, and it cannot leave the premises. The maestro agreed to visit on Friday during a break in his rehearsals," Balaporia revealed. While it was to be a short visit owing to his age, the veteran spent over an hour looking at the centre. Incidentally, Mehta is also an honorary citizen of the city of Florence, the home of Dante Alighieri.

Mehta (centre) listens as Victor Joseph (right) talks about the manuscript

"He had so many pertinent questions. From the date and nature of the manuscript, to where he could find Dante's handwritten work. It is in the National Library at Florence, as we learned. Victor Joseph, who handles our ancient documents, also showed him a 10th century Greek publication, and an original manuscript by Galileo Galilei," she noted. In addition, Mehta spent some time looking at the Society's coin collection. "Apart from music, he has a desire for knowledge that is quite inspiring," Balaporia shared.

Shining a light on our strays

A member places the reflective collar around the neck of a stray

City-based readers community, Bandra Reads and Motopaws collaborated on a street dog reflective collaring initiative on August 25. "The reading session will be followed by an orientation distribution of collars," said Abhimanyu Lodha, co-founder of Bandra Reads. The organisation aims to protect stray dogs and drivers from accidents due to low visibility in the dark. The collars use durable, waterproof, orange fabric and German retro reflective tape, which reflects light up to 500 metres on a clear night for timely deceleration. "We will distribute three free collars to each individual, teach them how to collar dogs and record the process," concluded Shantanu Naidu, founder of Motopaws.