Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Bipin Kokate

Yeh Shaam mastani
People mill about at Priyadarshini Park in Malabar Hill on Monday, with the setting sun making for a scenic backdrop.

What's cooking in Anahita's kitchen?

Mumbai's Zoroastrian community is an integral aspect of the city's social fabric, with Irani cafés lending it a culinary edge over other Indian metros. Chef Anahita Dhondy will launch a book called My Parsi Kitchen (HarperCollins India) this summer, which will offer insights into the community's food habits. Dhondy shared that the title is a product of her journey as a culinary student and chef with places like Parsi eatery chain SodaBottleOpenerWala. "I have shared these experiences in the book through stories and memories that go into the recipes. Just to get a basic understanding of Parsi food, you need to know that it's a mix of five different cuisines. There are Iranian flavours, freshness from Gujarat, spices from Maharashtra, some really amazing flavours from Goa and I wouldn't say a pinch, but a big cup of British influence," Dhondy told this diarist.

Finnish honour

The 14th Alvar Aalto Medal, an award instituted in the name of the world renowned Finnish architect and designer, has been bestowed on the architectural firm Studio Mumbai, led by director Bijoy Jain. The honour is announced every three years and recognises individuals who have made a significant impact in creative architectural work. The announcement was made on Alvar Aalto Foundation's YouTube page and Jain received the award from Ritva Koukku-Ronde, Ambassador of Finland to India. An elated Jain recollected his visit to the Alvar Aalto House in 2014, where he tasted the finest, sweetest figs from the tree outside. "That's what connects me to the landscape; my relationship to Alvar Aalto is connected through the fig tree. That moment continues to linger. Architecture for me is grounded to the landscape, the outside, and nature," he shared with us.

A flag of inclusivity

Cafe Arpan in Juhu, which employs specially abled staff members, has always been an eatery that is known to spread the message of inclusivity. The owners have now gone one step ahead and placed a rainbow flag outside the main door to show solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community. Ashaita Mahajan, trustee of Yash Charitable Trust that runs the café, told this diarist that the idea stemmed from a conversation she overheard some members of The Hugging Club of India have at the eatery, some of them proudly queer. "One of them said that he was hesitant about going to restaurants since he feared discrimination. So, we felt that we had to do this," Mahajan shared with us.

This filmmaker lands a big catch

Filmmaker Rishi Chandna, who recently shifted to Goa from Mumbai, and had previously made the critically acclaimed Hindi-English short film Tungrus about a Mumbai family that adopts a chicken, has received a major fillip for his next project, The Catch. The film has won the top fiction prize at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. The plot revolves around a Gujarati fisherman who gets to rebuild his life after he catches a shoal of the rare ghol fish, which is sold to foreign countries that use its organs for medicinal purposes. "The award was for the best fiction project from outside Hong Kong, which had around 20 submissions. It recognises the work that has gone into the script," Chandna shared. Our congratulations to him.

Poetic justice

Even though poetry can sometimes be an abstract form of art, it can also help put things into perspective when things seem to make little sense. And poetry platform Kavishala held an online event last weekend to mark World Poetry Day, which UNESCO began in 1999 in order to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and enable endangered languages to be heard more. It involved six poets reciting their original pieces on Twitter, with Kavishala founder Ankur Mishra hosting the session. The poets included Ruchi Kokcha (in pic), Faridoon Shahriyar and Ashwini Dodani, who took turns in weaving magic with their words.