Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Tough choice

A young woman ponders over Diwali lantern designs at a Matunga stall ahead of the festive weekend

Sharing the limelight

Husband-wife Ishita Moitra and Neeraj Udhwani are truly having a bumper Diwali weekend. Both of them had shows that released last Friday - Moitra is part of the writing team of Four More Shots Please! and Udhwani has directed Tripling 3. "We didn't know that they would release on the same day. It was a happy coincidence," said Udhwani, adding that at home, the energy is maniacal. Moitra says her heart is full. "There was a lot of nervousness, excitement and also a whole lot of self-doubt in the run up to this. We both periodically kept reassuring each other that both shows have an existing fan base, so it's going to be fine. On Thursday, we attended each other's premieres and cheered for one another. On Friday, there was a sense of calm, because both shows dropped, and have been accepted well by audiences."

Handmade with love

If you are bored of the usual kandeel designs, available at every nook and cranny, find Sushant Birje outside the Mango store near Thane station. A photographer by profession, this Dombivli-based man, along with his friends, has been making beautiful kandeels for seven years. The kandeels made of handmade paper are available in a combination of colours and motifs, like peacock and elephant, that go far beyond the designs readily available.

What makes them further interesting is that they are plastic free. This diarist met him earlier this week and instantly fell in love with the designs. He said that because they are full-time professionals, the kandeels are designed between work hours. He does not promote his work via social media, because designs get easily copied. The kandeel is priced at Rs 550.

No short memories for Kalli's tall deeds

Alvin Kallicharran, the former West Indies cricket captain, arrived on these shores earlier this week to be part of the 24x7 Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute. Kalli, as he is known to his friends, has always had a close association with India and is often spoken in the same breath as Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath when it comes to the finest short-statured batsmen of the 1970s and 1980s.

West Indies' Alvin Kallicharran hooks while playing a game against Middlesex on July 5, 1973 at Lords Cricket Ground in London. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Like these two Indian masters, Kallicharran kicked off his international career with a flourish. Gavaskar amassed 774 runs in his debut Test series in the West Indies in 1970-71, while Viswanath carved a hundred on Test debut against a top Australian side at Kanpur in 1969-70.

Kallicharran smashed an unbeaten 100 on Test debut against New Zealand at Georgetown in 1971-72 and followed it up with another ton in the next game at Trinidad. Thus, he ended his maiden series with an impressive average of 109.50 and went on to serve West Indies for nearly a decade.

The southpaw probably didn't get the high billing he deserved in an era when Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd played in the same team as him. Kallicharran's Guyanese teammate Roy Fredericks was another ‘little' batsman who could murder the best attacks in business. What's with these short men, cricket lovers may wonder. Probably, there is no explanation to genius and let's not forget Don Bradman, the greatest of all batsman was not a tall man too.

The culture vulture tribe and vibe

(From left) S Mukherjee, V Dilawari, R Padamsee, M Kamat and R Potkar at the discussion. Pic/ASHISH RAJE

The cultural cognoscenti congregated on a late Thursday evening at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) museum for a panel discussion, Mumbai@75: Making of a Cultural Metropolis. The panellists, that included Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General, CSMVS, Vikas Dilawari, conservation architect, Dr Manjiri Kamat, history professor, and Rochelle Potkar, writer-poet, all agreed that the city, where every inch is so precious, needs more spaces for cultural events. It was not all pessimistic though. In fact, the tenor of the discussion, while admitting challenges of space and fund crunch was upbeat. Some statements eliciting cheers was that "the citizens were actively involved in building the heritage of this city." Yet another stated that, "a museum has to evolve with the times. We are 100 years-old today, the history of the CSMVS is the history of Mumbai." Another which resulted in some hurrahs was, "there should be no GST on tickets." As the stimulating evening drew to a close, it was decided that all points need to be collated and then pushed through for policy change.

What an idea!

An up and coming indie publishing house, Let's Author, is hoping to get readers to invest in books and authors, through a one-of-a-kind crowdfunding model. Started by Bengaluru entrepreneur Saumita Banerjee, Let's Author follows an open innovation approach. As per the model, a lead author proposes an idea for a book. They submit a proposal to Let's Author, which then builds an author team comprising writers. Following this, a crowdfunding campaign is launched. "The authors pitch the book idea to their networks and ask their support in making the book a reality. After the crowdfunding target is met, the authors complete writing the book," shares Banerjee. The first book is already under development.