Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Music to our ears: A boy and a girl enjoy a few tunes while waiting for a train to arrive at Govandi railway station. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Wheeling culture

Museum on Wheels at different locations in pre-pandemic times

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) celebrated an important milestone a few days ago. The Citi-CSMVS's Museum on Wheels (MOW) completed six years of successfully spreading its mission. Launched in 2015 with the help of a grant from the Ministry of Culture of India, its aim was to bring museum exhibits to rural parts of the country, and not limit it to the museum in Mumbai. "Not everyone has access to the big city. Coming to Mumbai can be an expensive affair, and what tends to happen is, by the time they go to college, they will not have experienced what a museum is or what it offers. The idea was to create something mobile and take it to the rural audiences so they understand the role of historic objects in learning history," said Joyoti Roy, head of strategy and marketing, CSMVS. For the next few days, the museum will also conduct a series of events that look back at the journey over six years, and how modes of outreach have changed with the project. "We've focused a lot on digital outreach. We have two buses now, and schools have started to reopen. We're hoping to resume with the visits soon," she added.

Brewing cool things

Spirits enthusiasts' collective The Dram Club is taking a leaf out of Oktoberfest's book. Tomorrow, the collective will host a free virtual panel discussion that will chart the evolution of craft beer over the years in the country, with a panel of experts from the field of brewing including Manu Misra, consultant at Effingut and Vipul Hirani, founder of Crafter. "The idea is to look at why homegrown brands think the idea is a lucrative one, apart from the fact that beer is an easy beverage to get hold of and consume, and also to take a look at the level of experimentation," Swati Sharma, the club's founder told us.

Cheers for this effort

Mythpat aka Mithilesh Pantankar

Indian gaming YouTuber, Mithilesh Patankar aka Mythpat, now has a feather in his cap. Patankar, with over 10 million subscribers on the platform, has become the first Indian to be nominated twice in a row for the Streamy Awards, in the International category of the event. "While it does seem unreal to be the only Indian to be nominated twice in a row, I am extremely honoured to represent India on a global level," shared Patankar. All we have to say is, keep up the good work.

The eternal lightness of being Ervad Aspandiar Dadachanji

Ervad Aspandiar Dadachanji Saheb Panthaky of Vaatcha Gandhi Agiary on Hughes Road passed away on Friday. Tributes and memories flowed, one from Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) trustee, Noshir Dadrawala. The trustee said, "He was a spiritual mentor to so many, gentle, soft-spoken and kind. What I recall most was his love for vintage cars; he had several of these, and loved to drive them. His conversations were perfect; a mix of wisdom, wit and sparkle because he was never pedantic." Colaba's Pervez Cooper too, endorsed Ervad Aspandiar Dadachanji Saheb Panthaky's love for antique cars, and added, "He loved cricket too. I recall many years ago, he played a match for Parsi Gymkhana, dressed in white robes and sporting a white, flowing beard. He took a brilliant catch near the boundary, to the delight of all! An excellent, exemplary man." RIP, a man of humility and humour. The community mourns the loss of one of its best.

Curating for a cause

Mukesh Kulriya and Shital Sathe

Earlier this month, we had reported on this page that the Goethe Institut had launched a programme, called the M.A.P // A.M.P, a music initiative that hopes to marry activism with music, to encourage the spread of new and diverse content. Now, under this umbrella, the institute has launched the Music Library programme, to engage with themes like protest in music. The library aims to create a repository of activist music from across South Asia, to amplify these voices. "We're hoping to create a rich and diverse range of activist music that will span genres and generations of music and poetry. In South Asia, caste is the most visible dominant social category. Our recent playlist is filled with songs that are protesting against this regressive social institution. It features names like Sumit Samos, Shital Sathe and Harish Kamble. Sathe is a familiar name in anti-caste struggle and music, while Samos is a student rapper who engages in anti-caste movements," shared Mukesh Kulriya, curator of the Music Library.