Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Anurag Ahire

Spidey alert at the Gateway

A man dressed in a Spider-man costume poses for a photograph at the Gateway of India.

Swifties are the BEST

A BEST bus with the poster for Taylor Swift's new album

If you spot someone clicking selfies with BEST buses in the coming weeks, they are probably an alert Swiftie. "Taylor Swift's music is being promoted through offline platforms for the first time in India," shared Swiftie Night India founders Ritu Bhoite and Priyanka Shirsath. To celebrate this, the duo has announced a contest. Currently, 13 BEST buses in Mumbai sport posters for her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. "If you spot them, post pictures on Instagram. The person who spots the most buses will win Taylor Swift merchandise," they revealed. Head to @swiftienightofficial for more details on the rules, and hints.

Where did the watermelons go?

A vendor sells watermelons in Bandra

The watermelon grew luxuriously in Bandra, and was quite a rival to its Alibaug and Pen cousins. But the time came when it disappeared from the very face of Bandra," Shormistha Mukherjee, founder of page, Houses of Bandra, shared an excerpt from the folklore and superstitious sayings sections of The East Indians by Elsie W Baptista. "It is watermelon season. As a person who likes documenting Bandra, I thought of sharing this tale," Mukherjee added. The story goes on to tell how a long time ago, during watermelon season, farmers would turn all their attention to the farmlands, and not turn up for Sunday Mass.

A priest at St Andrew's Church tried to persuade them not to ignore the word of God, but to no avail. One day, he brought a watermelon to church and told it, ‘Maldisao dilam kalangravar [a made-up curse which is a mix of Portuguese, Konkani and Marathi. It means, I curse you, Kalingar]. Never shall the likes of you grow in Bandra'. "We often forget that Bandra was once a republic of villages, before the British made it look like what it is today. In those villages, fishermen went to sea and farmers cultivated crops and had gigantic orchards of fruit trees. This tale was my attempt to remind people how much our roots are attached to the earth," she shared.

Get inked first, indulge later

Voters can avail of a 20 per cent discount across 108 restaurants in the city. File pic

Exercising your right to vote still counts as exercise, right? The 108 restaurants that are set to offer a 20 per cent discount on hearty post-election meals across the city tell us it's a resounding ‘yes'. Under an initiative by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the discount will be valid on May 20 and 21 at select restaurants spread across the city and its suburbs, including many popular haunts. "It is our social responsibility to encourage citizens to vote. This is a gesture of appreciation," Rachel Goenka, head of NRAI's Mumbai chapter shared, adding that the restaurants were proactive in joining the initiative. "When we put the suggestion out to the entire chapter, we had more than 100 restaurants sign up in a matter of hours. This is a testament to the spirit of the city," she shared. Conscientious foodies can access the complete list of restaurants at nrai.org.

The other side of Manto

Jameel Gulrays (right) Manto. Pic courtesy/Wikepedia.com

Saadat Hasan Manto's 112th birth anniversary was celebrated on May 12, and readers gathered at Prithvi House to explore the other side of the late writer. "Jashn-e-Manto was organised by Katha Kathan, a community that aims to promote Urdu language. For the anniversary, we wanted to show people the other side of a writer who is known to have written dark, obscene stories," shared director and curator Jameel Gulrays. The group read Ghusl Khaana, Aulad and Kutte Ki Dua by the author.

Sowing the seed of success

A still from the one-minute-long animated movie, The Seed

Mumbai's Studio Eeksaurus is on a winning spree with its one-minute clay animation film, The Seed. After bringing home the Campaign Indian Film Crest 2024 award, and being nominated for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, they are now selected for the Pulcinella Awards by Italy's International Cartoons on the Bay Film Festival.

"We have been selected for two of our films - The Seed and The Legend of Arana," shared founder and creative director Suresh Eriyat (inset). The Seed film was made to celebrate 15 years of the studio and their knack for finding and nurturing the seeds of creativity and stories. Eriyat shares that The Legend of Arana, on the other hand, is a sequel to their National Award-winning film Kandittund!, which is based on the stories of his father, PNK Panicker.