Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

The many faces of the goddess

A shopkeeper arranges idols of the Goddess Gauri ahead of Gauri Ganpati on September 6 in Lalbaug

Ciao from Italy

Unnat and Vishwajeet Sangle practise beach tennis

In a first for India, brothers Unnat and Vishwajeet Sangle have qualified for the Beach Tennis World Cup in Italy to be held from September 11 to September 15. "In India, we play beach tennis for leisure. Few people take it up professionally. In order to qualify, we had to prove to organisers that the sport has potential for growth," Unnat told this diarist before catching a flight to Italy. The brothers hosted workshops and competitions in Maharashtra to underline their will of helping the sport grow in the country. "Ours is a team of people who have played other racket sports. Nonetheless, we are a strong team, and hope to perform well," he signed off.

Bappa in bricks

LEGO-baghcha Raja. PIC COURTESY/@aalsiyoulater

As Mumbai welcomed Ganeshotsav over the weekend, AI artist Varun Gupta's artwork reimagined the city's favourite celebration in what he calls the LEGO bagh. "LEGO-baghcha raja is made of LEGO bricks. We see many creative takes every season. Many children create their own idols at home. So, I thought of imagining idols made of the favourite childhood game [LEGO] - colourful and vibrant - just like the festival," he explained.

Hoops of celebration

Shivani Dhopawkar performs before an idol in Girgaon

Jumping through hoops quite literally, 27-year-old Shivani Dhopawkar AKA The Bombay Hooper set the stage for Ganesh Chaturthi last week in Girgaon. "Hula hooping is not the kind of performance you expect on Ganeshotsav. When the pandal in Girgaon approached me, I had to say yes," she explained. Dhopawkar had performed on the streets of the city at an aagaman earlier, which led to this invite. The Girgaon-based hula hooper discovered the activity as a school-going child, when she was gifted a hula hoop. "I didn't know what it was but my father had watched a few videos and said that it is supposed to be spun around your waist," she recalled. This led to her performing in schools across the city. "I stopped hula hooping and became an IT professional but hated the job. After five years, and months of convincing my parents, I took up hula hooping professionally. Now I conduct workshops and classes for children across the city," she said. "Hula hooping is growing popular in the city. To be invited to perform on Ganeshotsav indicates that the city is embracing it as more than just a hobby," she told this diarist.

An ode to vultures

A student holds up her drawings featuring vultures

To celebrate International Vulture Awareness Day last Saturday, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) hosted events across states including Bihar, Assam and Haryana. Senior centre manager Sachin Ranade collaborated with The Vulture Conservation Breeding Conservation Center in Assam to host drawing competitions for children. "In Mumbai, the team is actively working on social media content to create awareness about vultures and their habitats. Across the country, we are hosting events to help students learn about the role these birds play in our ecosystem," Ranade explained.

The feminine side

A moment from the music video

To commemorate the fight to decriminalise Section 377 in 2018, community Color Positivity released a music video on YouTube, recreating Maroon 5's Girls like you. The idea, (below) Savio Linus Mascarenhas, director and producer, explained was to shed light on the different facets of femininity in the society. "The society usually considers women and queer people as weak. Queer people are also often viewed as intimidating by the society for their bold dressing or lifestyle choices. The proof lay in the glares we received, and the problems we faced when trying to shoot the video in public spaces with mobile phones. Hence, we reimagined the song by shedding light on the feminine side of people across genders," he explained.