Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

Booked for this ride

A books vendor shows off his towering collection at a traffic signal in Goregaon East.

Art to save turtles

Through his art, Sudarshan Shaw, a Bhubaneswar-based artist, celebrates the turtle community in Odisha's Ganjam district - the mouth of the river Rukshikulya is one of the world's largest nesting sites for Olive Ridley turtles. "Certain members of the local community, under the leadership of Bipro Behera, a generational conservationist, work towards protecting these turtles from poaching and other harmful activities. They supplement their earnings with odd jobs and have been hard hit by the pandemic, which has affected their connectivity with the main markets," he told us. Shaw is selling prints from his collection, Turtles and the Sea, to help raise funds for their benefit. To contribute, visit @sudarshan_shaw on Instagram.

Giving root to an idea

The students have devised a prototype to conduct hydroponics farming using plastic bottles; Sudharma Kambhamettu

Around the world, nearly a million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, suggests research, and the number is likely to jump another 20 per cent by 2021. Amid this increasing use of plastic, 10 management students from the Karjat-based Universal Business School (UBS) have initiated Project Roop, which aims to upcycle used plastic bottles through hydropon-ics, a soil-less method of planting. The project is aimed at reducing the number of plastic bottles ending up at our dumpyards. In the initial phase, the students conducted cleanliness drives in Mumbai and Chennai, and the plastic bottles collected were sent for recycling, shared Sudharma Kambhamettu, student president of ENACTUS UBS. The revenue from the same was used to develop the prototype for hydroponics. "In the earlier stages of the pandemic, we were trying to focus on plastic recycling but it isn't cost-effective. We came across the concept of plastic upcycling, for which, we have taken the path of hydroponic farming using plastic bottles. It's both cost-effective and can be used as home decor," Kambhamettu added.

Shots, chuckles and all the fun

Not that we should need any extra encouragement, but Khar-based cultural venue The Habitat has started an initiative called Got Jabbed? Get Laughs! allowing visitors who've got at least one shot free entry to their live comedy shows at 2 pm on weekdays. Owner Balraj Ghai said that they've been running the concept for the past few weeks. "We get a line-up of seven to eight comics. We're trying to tell people that if they can go out to restaurants, they might as well come to ours, where they also get food for thought with a side of happiness. The idea was to encourage people to get vaccinated and reward them for doing so," he added. That's a win-win.

Keep this cause alive

Panther's Paw Publication, an independent publishing house dedicated to producing literature by Dalit and Bahujan authors, is looking for seed funding to continue their operations. After suffering many setbacks during the pandemic, the publication has proposed this drive to sustain the organisation for the next three years. The publication has churned out several significant literary works since its inception in 2016, with the aim of promoting literature from these communities. "If we take a cursory glance at the publishing industry, we rarely find a Dalit-Bahujan publisher in the English language. We focus on writers and stories that promote democratic values such as equality and liberty, which is why the publication has to be sustained," shared publisher Yogesh Maitreya. To pitch in, visit @pantherspawpubli-cation on Instagram.

Everything rice

Kishwar Chowdhury. Pic/Instagram

In a moment of pride for the global Bengali community, the humble panta bhaat, or leftover, fermented rice, made it to the grand repertoire of five-star dishes on MasterChef Australia 2021, when Bangladeshi-origin chef Kishwar Chowdhury served it as her final dish. In doing so - Chowdhury rechristened the staple as smoked rice water, serving it with alu bhorta (mashed potatoes) and machh bhaja (fish fry) - she not only paid homage to her culinary heritage, but also the dish's powerful history of feeding those who can't afford any better. Although she ended up as the second runner-up, Chowdhury's final presentation was a note of inspiration for desi home chefs everywhere - ghar ka khana can be fine-dine fare too.