Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Family time

Bamboo basket weavers in Mahim share a laugh while working on Diwali kandeels

Go red for dyslexia

Dyslexia walk held in October 2019

How do you spread awareness about dyslexia? Well, you wear red and head to Otters Club in Bandra to be part of a walk supporting the cause. The one km walk up till Khar, which starts at 5 pm today can be joined in at any point and that too, without any cost at hand. In fact, to show your support in words, the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association (MDA) has already prepared posters and banners, which can be collected from Otters Club before the walk begins. "Red is the colour for dyslexia awareness against red dots received in school," says MDA's Divya Balgi.

In Perth, it's chill time before on-field thrills

The Indian team in Australia for the T20 World Cup, enjoyed being in Perth for training and warm-up games ahead of their massive October 23 opener against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They spent a chilled-out day at Rottnest Island in Western Australia and used the trip to celebrate Hardik Pandya's October 11 birthday.

The Indian cricket team at Rottnest Island , Australia. Pic/BCCI, Twitter

Indeed, Western Australia is a tourist delight - expansive and lots to see and do. In bygone eras, all touring teams first landed in Perth for their Australian sojourns although Brisbane was the place where you played your opening Test match. KN Prabhu, that artistic cricket writer, wrote a piece in 1977 about his Perth visit in 1967.

"If this was Australia, no wonder all of Europe wanted to migrate to it. And yet it was a land very much at the mercy of the elements. We could sense this the moment we landed. Looking through the morning papers, I picked on the theme that the dry pitches could help our spinners, that water shortage was acute, though most people were beer drinkers," recalled Prabhu. Perth has come a long way since 1967 and four years later, it got Test match status. Now, they even have two international cricket grounds!

Wishing you a very Jolly Diwali

Rashmi Jolly

For she's a Jolly good fella, says Sotheby's London. Mumbai-based Rashmi Jolly, Hon. Consul General of the Czech Republic for Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa has been invited by Sotheby's London for a signing of her book, Aurangabad: Jewel of the Deccan on October 23. Said Jolly of the Sotheby's signing, "The book launch and signing is part of Sotheby's brunch and private viewing of the Islamic, South Asian and Middle Eastern Week Sales. My book is a guide that recounts the splendour of Aurangabad with its 52 gates." The The Hon. Consul General added, "In London, it is also Diwali time and celebration of India and Asia week, so the book fits in well with all that. It is such an honour to be part of this event." We know the diyas are shining brighter for Ms Jolly this festive season.

A slice of history

It was the last night of Italian Screens, Italy's first global film festival, which made its debut in India with films being screened in four cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The finale also saw a collection of over 30 vintage Italian cars, which belonged to Mumbaikars, on display. The centre of attraction was a striking red Lancia Astura, the flagship model of the company, which was unveiled at the 1931 edition of the Paris Salon.

Harit Trivedi

It also saw Ambassador Vincenzo de Luca hopping into it with his wife for a photo op (in pic). The car belongs to Gamdevi-based Harit Trivedi. The 63-year-old gentleman bought the car a little over two decades ago. "It initially belonged to someone in Kolkata before it landed up at a cigarette factory. Then it made its way to a racing event in Bangalore, where a close friend of mine saw it. Without even showing its photo, he asked me to buy it." Such was the friendship that he obliged and now it is his precious treasure.

Partition book bags coveted prize

Oral historian Aanchal Malhotra's exemplary research on the Partition has bagged her the prestigious 2022 Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award. Malhotra whose just released book, In the Language of Remembering, has been earning rave reviews, won the award for the prequel to this text, which released internationally as Remnants of Partition: 21 Objects from a Continent Divided in 2019. The committee described her work as "frankly beautiful, a rare and compelling form of ethnographic storytelling". "Malhotra's concern for detail... creates a strong moral and ethical underpinning for this work and its focus on the materiality and sociality of violence," they further said. Speaking to this diarist, Malhotra who was previously shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, shared that she was "honoured by this win, and by the CMA Award Committee's very nuanced and thoughtful citation, and am excited by the prospect of Remnants reaching new readers!"