Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Festive high: A son joins his mother in decorating their home with lights in Nehru Nagar in time for Diwali. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

A green Indo-Japanese exchange for Mumbai

Last Sunday, Honourable Consul General of Japan (Mumbai) Dr Fukahori Yasukata along with Mehool N Bhuva, president of the Indo-Japanese Association, visited Colaba Woods Garden. They were particularly keen to observe the rainwater harvesting percolation pit and the urban forest. "The BMC has been using the Miyawaki method of tree planting, which was developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. In fact, we have planted more than three lakh trees in the city using this technique, which involves planting two to four trees per square metre. Miyawaki forests grow in two to three years and are self-sustaining. They can help to lower temperatures in concrete heat islands and reduce air and noise pollution. Dr Yasukata was appreciative of our application of this methodology, as well as of our percolation pits. He has invited me to visit Japan to share our know-how about our low-cost rainwater harvesting system; we will also work on a Japanese documentary featuring this innovation," shared Dr Subhajit Mukherjee, founder of Mission Green Mumbai.

No to crackers

"The smoke and noise produced by firecrackers is very distressing to our neighbourhood cats and dogs - our gully guardians. They become extremely frightened and disoriented because of the sound, which can also cause permanent hearing problems," explained Priya Agarwal, founder of animal welfare NGO, Yoda. To counter this, they've started the #NoPatakhaWaliGully movement, where they are requesting social media users to upload a photo of them pledging to shun firecrackers this Diwali.

Students write for art

Monograph, an independent student-led magazine dedicated to the arts, has put out a call for submissions for their upcoming issue. "The idea for the magazine was conceived in August last year. My friends and I started to reach out to others who would be interested in writing as well as artists who we could interview. Subsequently, the first edition we produced proved to be a success. While we were a little worried about whether we could sustain this initiative at first, we have received a record number of submissions for our last issue and are getting better at it, as we go on," shared Anuraag Das Sarma, its editor-in-chief. They're inviting all forms of submissions, including writing, poetry and art. Head to @themonographmag on Instagram for details.

Lighting up the city's iconic landmarks

Next month, Mumbai will host the country's first light-based art festival, which is being organised by Floating Canvas Company, an art advisory firm. "While there are multiple light festivals across the world, India was nowhere on the map. So, we approached the MTDC with this idea and they saw its potential in terms of becoming a tourist attraction as well," said Aagam Mehta, its co-founder. The first edition, which begins on December 24, will include 20 installations, including three projection sites, and feature works by a mix of international and local artists. The installations will be displayed at some of the city's most iconic sites. They're now inviting creators who use light as a medium to join the line-up. Head to @floatingcanvasco on Instagram for further details and to register by today.

Call of the open blue sea

In a bid to encourage more swimmers to take up open sea swimming, Mumbai Sea Swimmers has announced their next swimathon in February. "A swimathon is essentially a marathon for swimmers. We've seen that, as with marathons, having a goal makes people more enthusiastic and work harder. In the past, whenever we announced a swimathon, we would see more people joining us and enthusiastically preparing for the event. Having an ambitious goal or target often leads people to exceed even their own expectations. However, we're being vigilant about the status of pools reopening in the city before we announce the distances we will accommodate. If the pools do reopen, participants can train and undertake longer distances," said Mehul Ved, co-founder of the group. They've also enlisted Sarika Dipen Jain, a certified coach who can help swimmers perfect their open sea technique, so that they can swim longer and faster. To participate, visit mumbaiseaswimmers.com.