Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

A moment in time

A family enjoys some quiet time on a winter evening at the Marine Drive promenade

Kalnirnay's moment of total recall

Most Mumbaikars will remember the Kalnirnay TVC from the 1980s, where a calendar vendor, played by Marathi actor Ajay Wadhavkar, is seen handing out almanacs to Renuka Shahane and Archana Joglekar, as he sings aloud ‘Kalnirnay ghyana'. The barely 20-second ad has now been revived by Jayraj Salgaonkar, editor and publisher of Kalnirnay, to mark 50 years of the publication. The new multi-lingual version is created for audiences in Western and Southern India. "We recently launched Southern editions [Tamil, Telugu and Kannada] of Kalnirnay, so we decided to have two versions of the jingle," says Salgaonkar, who also wrote the original one. "The idea for it came during one of my market visits to meet with the retailers. This one time I had gone to a crowded market area in Dadar TT, and spotted a young man shouting ‘Kalnirnay ghyaa'. I had to support this person, as he was physically enabling the sale. That's how I decided to write this ad."

This wall art gives a fiery message

The wall art outside Worli fire brigade

There is a message in not a bottle, but a battle at the Worli fire brigade station. Every fire means a battle to douse the flames, and the city's firefighters are ready, this wall art outside the Worli fire brigade outpost says. Hemant Parab former Chief Fire Officer, BMC, Mumbai Fire Brigade decoded the vivid wall art. Parab said, "There is one main takeaway here: notice the woman firefighter. This art I think, will encourage women to join the fire brigade." Well, walls have ears goes the adage, but sometimes they can speak too… and here, they do to the fire chief who gives us his words of wisdom.

Having his Phil of bad luck

The luck factor in sport just cannot be ignored and that's probably why some cricketers are mighty superstitious.

Australia's Phil Carlson tries to block a lifter from England's Ian Botham and is about to be caught in the slips during the fifth Test at Sydney on February 10, 1979. Pic/Getty Images

A few of them don't shave during a Test match. Others always put their left pad on first and there was a time in the 1960s when the all-conquering Bombay Ranji Trophy team used to avoid meeting a person who loved being around the Cricket Club of India pavilion. Even having eye contact with him brought bad luck.

Our in-house cricket nut stumbled upon a snippet published during the 1979-79 Ashes series in Australia. It was about Australia's all-rounder Phil Carlson and his Test debut against England in Adelaide. With England batting first and in early trouble, Carlson dived to his right for a spectacular catch at fourth slip that sent back Derek Randall.

Phil Carlson

"But after that, luck left Carlson alone. In his first over, first slip could not hang on to a snick. Subsequently, Alan Hurst and Rodney Hogg dropped sitters off his bowling in the deep. And to top it all, he was given out caught behind, a dubious decision, for a duck," Sportsweek magazine reported.

A second innings 21 followed by 2 and 0 in the final Test at Sydney brought an end to the useful all-rounder Queenslander's Test career, but luck did play its part. And he probably thought he had enough of ill fortune after getting out for 99 in the Queensland v Pakistan game, two seasons before his Test debut!

‘Tis the season (of revamp)

This diarist has heard that restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani is turning Souffle into a Tequila bar and helming it would be Vicky Singh, Amlani's partner at Slink & Bardot. Another restaurateur who is making a leap is Gaurav Dabrai. He has revamped his Worli-based La La Land into Praia, an affordable fine-dining restaurant. Dabrai told us that the transition happened, part-consciously, while they were doing the post-monsoon renovation work. "Praia is a reflection of the evolving market and identifies the need for an upbeat dinner and drinks spot minus the snobbery associated with fine dining. A place where you come for dinner and stay back for another round of drinks," says Dabrai, who has also picked up a tucked away location at Warden Road to open a small cafe. "Called Cafe Paul & Mike, it will be a chocolate-centric spot featuring products that pair well with chocolate."

An anthem for a book

Sid Paul is the composer behind the anthem of motivational author Ankur Warikoo's book Do Epic Shit. For the 27-year-old Mumbai-based composer, it was just like making any other song but, "the brief was different. The brief given to us was a book." The team followed the same process, but Paul ensured that he read the book and so did the lyricist. "Melody wise, we knew how the song would sound like but lyrically, we had to go through the book and Ankur also shared what he wanted, selecting the right kind of words," says Paul. The idea behind this track was, "a motivation anthem that goes with the current trend of music, Gen Z and Ankur's followers."