Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Aishwarya Deodhar

Shadow Play

A man carries a fan on a hot summer day in Versova Koliwada

When the Cold War struck Kapoor home

Rahul Rawail at the event. PIC COURTESY/RUSSIAN HOUSE IN MUMBAI

Filmmaker Rahul Rawail, who attended the first Indo Russian conference organised by the Russia Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Monday, shared an interesting anecdote about his mentor Raj Kapoor, whose love for all things Russia was well known. At a house party once, Raj, who was a few drinks down, asked both his actor sons to come sit on his lap, the way they used to when they were children. While Dabboo (Randhir Kapoor) and Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) were surprised and embarrassed by their father's command, an American family friend, who was an embassy attaché at the time, jumped onto the Bollywood veteran's lap, saying he regarded Dabboo and Chintu as brothers and hence, Raj was his father. The elder Kapoor, however, pushed him off his lap, saying they could never be father and son, as he considered himself a Russian and could never have a familial relationship with an American.

Tellis like it is

Senior journalist Kumar Ketkar and economist Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar present the award to Olga Tellis

With over five decades of fierce journalism behind her, Olga Tellis continues to be remembered for her stellar reporting on the insider trading in the Bombay Stock Market that brought down the over-heated market, her extensive coverage of the famine years of Maharashtra, following CPI (M) leader Ahilya Rangnekar on her trail. Tellis was also the first to interview Simranjit Singh Mann after he was arrested for assisting the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. On Friday, the veteran journalist was presented the Dinu Randive Memorial Journalism Award 2023 for her immense contribution to the field at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh. The award, comprising a cash prize and memento, was instituted in memory of senior journalist and freedom fighter Dinu Ranadive, who passed away in June 2020.
"Whilst I am thankful to Prof. Mungekar and his team, I think they are too generous in their appreciation of my work. Being a journalist is one of the most exciting jobs and it's like receiving an award for enjoying yourself."

Paver pain for Matheran

Paver blocks have become a casualty of the first showers in Matheran. Coming off in patches, they are especially treacherous for the equines on the red mud of the hill station. Locals say the traditional red mud was slippery when wet but the rain water used to run off into the gutters. Here, the water does not have an outlet. The bigger concern, however, is that the horses that Matheran is so loved for must be enduring a particular kind of torture, living in constant terror of a paver block coming off under their hooves.

It all happened at Edgbaston in 1975

The Australians congratulate bowler Max Walker as a dejected Graham Gooch walks back after being caught behind by wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh for a duck on his debut on July 11, 1975. Pic/Getty Images

The ongoing Edgbaston cricket Test match between traditional rivals England and Australia caused our in-house cricket nut to go into recall mode - the 1975 Ashes Test there to be precise. It was an eventful game which England, under Mike Denness, lost by an innings and 85 runs. Denness, who surrendered the Ashes earlier that year, was sacked as captain after this Test, unveiling the brief Tony Greig-in-charge era. The Cricketer International match report mentioned the captaincy choices in alphabetical order (Boycott, Brearley, Close, Cowdrey, Edrich, Fletcher, Gilliat, Hampshire, Illingworth and David Lloyd) before Greig was picked. Future great Graham Gooch made his debut here and was dismissed for a duck in both innings. And your newspaper's columnist Ian Chappell's only innings in the Test amounted to a half century. We wonder whether he realised then that he became the first captain to beat England in an Edgbaston Test since 1902. Home lad Dennis Amiss was struck painfully on the elbow and had to leave the field. Even Dicky Bird had to spend some time away from the action after the popular umpire hurt his back on Day Three. Indeed, England will hope for better memories when it comes to the Ashes 2023 Test at Edgbaston.