Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

No shying away from testing

A woman is reluctant to take off her ghunghat as she undergoes an antigen test at Kurla Terminus.

Noni Appa hits a half-century

The play stars Jayati Bhatia, Lillette Dubey and Gillian Pinto

In the last six months, Lillette Dubey has dabbled across mediums - from web series to short films. Yet, the thrill she gets from being on stage is unmatched. So, she's excited for the coming month as her production Salaam Noni Appa, which crosses 50 shows, will be staged at the Prithvi Theatre on April 15 and 16. The play, based on Twinkle Khanna's short story, features Dubey, Jayati Bhatia, Yateen Karyekar, Rishi Khurana and Gillian Pinto. Although the story is a comic romance centred on Noni Appa, an elderly widow, who finds herself falling in love with a younger man, it offers an allegory for our times. "It tells you that life never stops, even if you're 60. That's the beauty of it - you can turn a corner, and find the person of your dreams, or your calling" Dubey said.

Ring in choral calm for Lent

With live performances coming to a halt, the Stop-Gaps Cultural Academy has been keeping choral lovers in the city busy with virtual concerts; last month, they put up a Valentine's Day showcase. Now, as Christians observe the season of Lent, they will release a series of Lenten hymns from their archives every three days, until Good Friday on April 2. The first of the series is a choral rendition of Our Father, which was sung by them at The Sacred Heart Church in Vashi just before the lockdown was imposed in India. "People want to hear music during this time. We also want to show people that we do a variety of concerts," director Alfred J D'souza shared. Head to youtube.com/thestopgaps to tune in.

Mumbai's connect with Dante

This year marks the 700th death anniversary of Italian poet Dante Alighieri. So, the Italian Cultural Centre Mumbai (ICCM) and The Asiatic Society of Mumbai (ASM) are hosting a lecture by professor Andrea Mazzucchi today, on ICCM's YouTube channel. Titled Speech Made Visible, it dissects rare manuscripts, including the one on Divine Comedy with ASM. "Legend has it that in 1940, Italian leader Benito Mussolini offered one million pounds for it," Dr Shehernaz Nalwalla, chairperson, Mumbai Research Centre, ASM, shared.

Theatre for all

From March 26 to April 24, the META Festival will screen some of the best plays that have been part of the festival over the years. Now in its 16th edition, the festival will be held virtually. Theatre buffs can also soak in discussions on subjects that the plays address, as well as sign up for workshops and masterclasses. Some of the plays that will be screened include Vijay Tendulkar's A Friend's Story directed by Akash Khurana, one of the first modern Indian plays dealing with same-sex attraction, and Elephant in the Room (in pic) directed by Yuki Ellias that pays homage to Lord Ganapati in a quirky reinterpretation of his story.

A whiff of Bombay's art in Bengaluru

Saubiya Chasmawala's Untitled 143 is part of the display

In 2017, Araku Coffee opened a store in Paris and made quite the splash. In 2018, the blend, originating from Andhra Pradesh, scripted history as the first Indian coffee blend to win the gold medal at Paris's Prix Epicures. Now, it has opened its second outpost - a massive 6,000 sq ft space - in Bengaluru. Although it's quite the trek for us Mumbaikars, there's a touch of the city there, too.

Araku Coffee House in Bengaluru. Pic/Saubiya Chasmawala, Tarq

The art display at the café comes from Colaba gallery. TARQ. Director Hena Kapadia told this diarist that the collaboration began when architect and a friend of the gallery, Shonan Purie Trehan reached out to them with her concept of bringing art that matched the café's mission and ethos. "We are currently exhibiting works by Apnavi Makanji, Saubiya Chasmawala and Pratap Morey and are excited to continue to add on more artworks by different artists in the coming months," she added.