Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

Colours of Festivities

People dressed in traditional Koli attire film themselves at Versova Koliwada on Narali Purnima.

Fight the bite

Bar to select your answer

Yes, it's delulu to think that you can bite back a mosquito. But instead of finding solace in this GenZer concept, we took this 18-question test on the BMC's newly launched app Mumbai against Dengue, which told us that we aren't doing enough at home to avoid falling prey to the fatal bite, and how we could start now.

What's cooking in Dubai, chef?

Chef Ranveer Brar with his team; (right) doing a taste test

Chef Ranveer Brar's culinary exploits are showing no signs of taking a breather. While multi-tasking the shoot for the latest season for Masterchef India, Brar will launch his latest outpost in Dubai's Festival City tomorrow. Titled Kashkan, the restaurant will be a taste of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "That's where the name comes from," Brar revealed over a phone call. Among the cuisines explored will be dishes from the North East, Rajasthan, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. "We are trying the Masor tenga from Assam, as well as the black sesame chicken with sticky rice and bamboo shoots. I also have two team members who hail from coastal Andhra Pradesh, bringing in flavours from Guntur and Kakinada cuisine," he said. Brar added that the decor will be vibrant. The restaurant will have five dining halls, each representing a different part of the country. The space will also celebrate the chef's passion for photography.

Cheer yourself ‘horse' for Chandrayaan-3

A poster of the Chandrayaan-3 race

This diarist has learnt that Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) is incorporating a race to commemorate the special occasion of The Chandrayaan-3 moon landing. The race has been named The Chandrayaan-3 Landing on the Moon Trophy and will be run on Saturday September 2, at the Pune racecourse. The RWITC has a delightful historical nugget to share along with this information - one that makes it to the annals of horse racing. In 1969, when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon, the racing club had also had a race in this honour. This race that was run in Mumbai was called The Man On The Moon Gold Cup, which was held on January 1, 1970. And it was won by a filly named Sweet One. The race eventually turned out to have a nail-biting finish with seven horses finishing together, but it was Sweet One that came out on top and won by the proverbial whisker. This gives the space race a whole new meaning.

A toast to new beginnings

Non-profit international organisation for improving public speaking among individuals, Toastmasters of Mumbai will open another branch in the city at Mira-Bhayandar. "There is a branch in almost every corner of Mumbai. For residents from Mira-Bhayandar, the nearest centre is in Kandivali," area director Bilva Desai (below) told this diarist, adding, "Hence, we're working towards opening up a centre for this up-and-coming area of Mumbai. Our first meeting will be held on September 10. While we won't have anything particularly different, we plan to introduce meet-ups for individuals who could come over and speak about their small businesses."

Ek hazaaron mein meri behna

Annie Singh took three hours to make the 19x21-inch cube portrait

Ten-year-old Annie Singh doesn't know if she's one in a thousand, but her brother Ethan is surely one in 399 cubes. For her brother's 12th birthday, which fell on August 27, Annie made a cube portrait of him, whilst he was holed up in another room. "He kept grumbling about not being able to come out," their mother Zeenie laughed, as she recalled. "Annie had returned from school, but was keen on surprising her brother, who was already home. So, we had to confine him to a room." In order to speed the process up, Annie's mother helped her create the portrait. "It took nearly three hours. For cube portraits, selecting a picture which has contrasting colours is very crucial. Next, we pixelated it on an app, and started making the front face of the cube," she told us.