Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Bipin Kokate

Still, man's best friend

This beauty of a dog enjoys a view of the sea at Marine Drive on a hot day.

For the love of UP

Music composer Vipin Patwa, who most recently composed Matlabi Yariyan for the Parineeti Chopra-starrer The Girl On The Train, has now created a special track for the Uttar Pradesh government. The song, Aao UP Chale, has been dedicated to UP tourism, and was recently launched by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. Mumbai-based Patwa says, "I was given an opportunity to do something to help attract tourists to the state. Uttar Pradesh is a very spiritual place and I can understand this, as I hail from there. Incidentally, Yogiji liked the song, too."

Drop those dog collars

So far, the NGO has strapped nearly 1,000 dogs

The next time you're out on the streets of Mumbai, you're likely to see the city's stray dogs with swanky reflective collars. It's part of a campaign by non-profit organisation Awaaaz: Voice of Strays, to reduce roadkill. So far, nearly 1,000 stray dogs have been strapped.

Amit Pathak

"We have distributed the collars to the feeders. But, the unfortunate part is that people are stealing the collars. In fact, one of the feeders caught a person red-handed. His defence was that he liked it and wanted it for his pet at home. We are trying to find a way around this," says founder Amit Pathak.

When a manga character highlights a green issue

Celebrity endorsement is one of the fashion world's most common tools. But UNIQLO has taken a big leap forward and appointed a widely popular anime robotic cat character, Doraemon as its global sustainability ambassador. In Japan, where Doraemon first appeared in manga form 50 years ago, in a blue avatar has been considered an example of the power of technology to improve people's quality of life. UNIQLO, an everyday fashion company also founded in Japan, hopes their version of the green cat will do just the same for its sustainability message of "changing our future through the power of clothing". Doraemon cartoons, ironically, are not without their share of controversies in India. In 2016, activists had campaigned for a ban on the cartoon show on account of being a "bad influence" on kids and adults alike.

Virtually connected

Rhema Chaudhary

Artist Rhema Chaudhary has come up with a visual narrative, Alone, Together, through which she shares her experience when the world went into a complete lockdown. As a self-proclaimed recluse, the artist expresses her craving for human connection during this time, which compelled her to connect with her ex and eventually transformed into a series of 300 screenshots based on their day-to-day conversations in isolation. "I've always considered myself somewhat of a recluse, but the lockdown left even incorrigible hermits like me craving human connection. So, I decided to reconnect with an ex. Typical, I know, but our daily calls offered a welcome dose of sanity in a strange new reality. At first, we'd simply check in on each other every day, but later, as time passed, our calls evolved into more watching and less talking. Having our need for human connection met virtually, we felt freed of our anxiety to look for it physically. Taking a screenshot is spontaneous and mostly us just telling ourselves, ‘Remember this'. Unaware of the fact that we were building an archive we continued this practice for the next six months. Almost 458 screenshots later, my mind can't help but create narratives. What I hope to have captured is not salacious voyeurism, but two people fulfilling the very human need of wanting to be witnessed in our most raw and unfiltered states," says Chaudhary. The installation will involve taping up more than 300 screenshots from something many of us would have thought about entertaining during the lockdown: rekindled interactions between exes. These screenshots will be taped all across Method Bandra from April 3 onwards.

Oh brother, there are differences too

A 2003 image of the late Jeanne Chappell with her sons Ian, Greg and Trevor (right) in Adelaide. Pic/Clayton Murzello

Cricket lovers yet again saw two sets of brothers figure in an international match, India's Hardik and Krunal Pandya, and Sam and Tom Curran of England, on Friday. The Currans are unique because their father Kevin too played international cricket albeit for Zimbabwe. Hence, cricket is in their blood. Hardik, Krunal, Sam and Tom remind us about the Chappell brothers Ian, Greg and Trevor. Ian and Greg first played against each other in the 1973-74 season when Greg shifted from South Australia to Queensland. Both brothers led their state teams and in their first game against each other, they argued over Greg bowling bouncers to Ian's tailender teammate Barry Hiern. Ian, who was batting at the other end in this Sheffield Shield match, told Greg what he thought of this ruthless attitude. "If you are going to bowl bouncers, bowl them to me, not our No. 11," Ian was quoted as telling Greg in Ashley Mallett's book Hitting Out. That evening, Ian rang his mother Jeanne in Adelaide to tell her Greg has settled well in Brisbane. He also slipped in the scrap they had on the field in their very first Shield game as opposition players. "What took you so long," asked Jeanne.Obviously, she knew what to expect.