Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

Ghar ghar ki kahaani

Take inspiration from this man, who turns his balcony at Fort into a makeshift exercise area

A royal surprise

The original press release for the Queen's coronation was packed with pictures and information

In the year the world is celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, Mumbai has its own little tale to tell about the Queen. Journalist MJ George, who was a news editor in the 1950s at a Mumbai broadsheet, received a press release that was sent out during the Queen's coronation in 1953.

The press release was a comprehensive one, accompanied with plenty of pictures and captions of every ceremony that took place at the grand event 70 years ago. It was sent out all over the world, so publications everywhere could carry it. The memories were shared by his grandson Riaan George on Instagram.

Dine with Michelin Chef Suvir Saran

Michelin star Chef Suvir Saran will have a signature set meal at Joshi House, Bandra West on June 15 and 16. "I hope to give people of Mumbai a taste of what I have done all my life, which is to take India's flavours and present them with honesty and also with a taste, flavour, and garnishing that make it appealing, comforting and memorable," says the chef, who spends his time between New York and Delhi. Joining him for this set meal will be Vardaan Marwah, executive chef American Masala and Richard, executive chef Joshi House. It will be a seven and a nine-course meal priced at Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,500 respectively, inclusive of all taxes. This meal, which will be in the form of a tasting menu, will have dishes and flavours that represent many different regions of India. "It's like taking a train trip, but a culinary train journey where each stop is each course and it brings you to a new discovery, new taste, new flavours and texture, and colours to taste and experience," says Chef Saran.

Grandpa's stories go live

Only last year, this diarist spoke with Girish Khare, a sexagenarian grandad, who started a fantasy show, The Adventures on Doryu, for kids during the pandemic. Khare, who has since published illustrated children's books for his younger audience, has now launched a website themadhatter4children.co.in to keep his little fans engaged. "I want to build a platform for kids. The idea is to eventually develop a club for children for the purpose of exchanging ideas and thoughts. So, while I'll share information [on the web page], we'd get them to eventually develop the journey forward. This is truly a dream which started off with my granddaughters, but is moving towards opening the cage door for children to fly free with their imagination," says Khare.

When The Wall visited Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Singh Bedi with Rahul Dravid. PIC COURTESY/NEHA BEDI ON TWITTER

Guess who visited Bishan Singh Bedi at his Delhi home since he was in town for the India v South Africa T20 International earlier this week? India's head coach and former captain Rahul Dravid - The Wall, to his admirers. Bedi has not been in perfect health due to a stroke, but going by what his friends tell us, he's on the mend. Do notice the number of books behind the two cricket legends in the photograph posted on Twitter by Bedi's daughter Neha. We hope he is reading even half as much as he used to. "Two absolute Legends from 2 different eras.Priceless!" wrote Neha. We also hope he'll be back on Twitter soon because no one calls a spade a spade like the Sardar of Spin.

A Tom and Jerry collection for pets

Pranav Sapra, who we all know for his fun content on Instagram, is also the co-founder of Mutt of Course, a pet brand his wife founded in 2018, which specialises in all things your dogs might need, be it harness or collar or leash. But that's not it! The brand collaborated with Warner Bros and launched an official Tom and Jerry collection, featuring bandanas, t-shirts, mats, collars, harnesses, beds as well as toys.

"We started working on it right after launching the Harry Potter collection in November last year. Over the last six months, we have had a lot of fun. We watched a lot of cartoons in between work and ended up with some exciting toys that would take one back into the world of Tom and Jerry. The cheese that Jerry is always chasing has been turned into a squeaky toy, the baseball bat that's always after Tom has also been re-imagined into a toy. When your pet chews and tears off the baseball, there will also be a ball inside for them to play," Pranav tells this diarist, adding that they have included the real-world toms aka cats this time. Want more? Keeping in mind the monsoon, one can also find a raincoat for their pets.