Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Giddy Up!

A flash of rain didn't deter this horserider at the Mahalaxmi Race Course

When Mumbai cricketers tired out the Grey Kangaroos

Our in-house cricket nut stumbled upon a piece of local cricket nostalgia in an Australian publication. In 1982, the Grey Kangaroos club from Down Under undertook a tour of India and played matches in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Udaipur and Jaipur and the writer in the team, Jack Egan penned a piece under the headline Flat Tracks and Old Bones in the now defunct World Cricket Digest. In Mumbai, they played three games here - against CCI and Nirlon at Islam Gymkhana while Bombay Gymkhana were tackled on their home turf.

Rakesh Tandon, the scourge of the visiting Australians. PIC/MID-DAY ARCHIVES

Egan described his visit to the CCI like this: "Relaxing quietly at the Brabourne Stadium home of the Cricket Club of India, sitting out on the oval on cane chairs at cane tables, drinking tea, or beer, or eating Charlie Chaplins. "At one end of the table Raj Singh Dungarpur is holding court. At the other Milind Rege is discussing with us plans for the coming CCI tour of Australia. Forty yards away Ravi Shastri and Karsan Ghavri are bowling to Sunil Gavaskar in the nets."

Now, to the matches. CCI comprehensively beat the visitors by 88 runs thanks to 62 each by Hemant Kenkre and Rakesh Tandon. Darshak Mehta, who later made Australia his home, chimed in with an unbeaten half-century as MAK Pataudi came on as umpire for a few overs.

Bombay Gymkhana beat the Aussies too with a batsman called Sanjay Kholi getting 105. Ex-Test player Hanumant Singh "added a touch of class" as a guest player for the visitors. His 48 went in vain. Nirlon were victors too, through Tandon's 145. So what's the story behind the headline? Three overs into this game, the Grey Kangaroos skipper asked his medium pacer how he was going. And the captain got this as an answer: "Flat tracks and old bones."

Bowing down to pop culture?

All the controversy aside, NCP leader Nawab Malik is known for his timing when it comes to quoting shayari on his Twitter page. When his face-off against the Narcotics Control Bureau began, his pinned tweet for the longest time was, ‘Idhar aa sitamgar hunar aazmayein, tu teer aazma hum jigar aazmaeyein (Come, tyrant, let's test our skills; you test your weapons, I'll test my fortitude). On February 23 last year - the day he was arrested - it was changed to, "Kuch hi der ki khamoshi hai phir shor aayega, tumhara toh sirf waqt hai hamara daur aayega (The noise will resume after a short silence, the time may be yours but the era will be mine). When he finally got bail on Friday, many were left with mixed emotions at his tweet: a generic and over-used line from 2021-hit Pushpa: ‘Mai jhukega nahi (I won't bow down).' Are we losing one more classics-lover to popular culture? We surely hope not!

Reinventing the classics

At all of 17 years old, musician Riddhi Vikamshi just made her hometown proud with the release of her debut single, Suno Morey Mohan. The single mixes traditional violin pieces, flute melodies and tabla rhythms with electronic elements, creating a fusion between contemporary music and the staple soundscapes of the Hindustani classical genre. The Nagpur-based musician tells this diarist, "I have been singing Hindustani classical music since I was four years old, and first became interested in producing music with my laptop three years ago. I wanted this single to display the authentic sounds of each genre." Vikamshi, who recently received her acceptance to Berklee College of Music in Boston, wants to bring Indian music to a global audience, while also embracing new trends in music. "Berklee brings independent artists from across the globe together, making it an ideal place for me," she says.

Cookie-ing up some love

Swing by the IC Colony's main road in Borivli after 5.30 pm and you'll see a sweet new addition to the throng of bustling momo outlets, pani puri stalls, and biryani joints. A cookie stall stands amidst the bustle, helmed by professional chef Neelangi Mehta and her sister Payal. Mehta started her stall to serve up the "real taste" of cookies to her customers. "What people don't know is that a cookie and a biscuit are actually very different," she explains. "What we get in the market is just biscuits passed off as cookies." Mehta started her business to show people the joy of consuming authentic cookies, in flavours such as blueberry crumble, vanilla chocochunks, chocolate and walnut, and ragi, wheat, and gluten-free versions for the health freaks. Next, she's aiming to put out homemade jams under her green-and-blue umbrella. We can't wait to have a taste.

Running on a virtual track

PIC COURTESY/TATA MUMBAI MARATHON

They say there is something about being at the right place at the right time but how about being at any place and that is the right time? The Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) in January next year has already opened registrations for different categories. Those who cannot make it to the city for the race, can run virtually too, be it the full 42 km, the half 21 km, the shorter 10 km, or the even shorter 5 km Dream Run. Virtual running is catching up with the physical world everywhere and why not? Remember Indian origin astronaut Sunita Williams, who ran the Boston Marathon 2007, at the International Space Station (ISS), in orbit. Williams was tethered on to a treadmill as she ran, and reports said her fellow crew members cheered her on and gave her a supply of oranges. Space or any place - new world running is all about not been there, but done that.