Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

In safe hands

While a woman cradles her child, a young girl turns guardian for her sibling at Juhu beach.

Chef superstars

Nooresha Kably

A number of Mumbai-based chefs made the city proud at Culinary Culture's FoodSuperstars initiative, which aims to recognise talented chefs. The first edition of the culinary platform's initiative awarded the top 30 chefs in India, among whom, Manish Mehrotra stood first, while Mumbai chefs Himanshu Saini, Prateek Sadhu, Nooresha Kably and Hussain Shahzad ranked among the top 10. While Pooja Dhingra bagged the Pastry Chef award, Dane Fernandes was adjudged the best Young Chef, Asma Khan was awarded the Chef Activist title, the late Floyd Cardoz was honoured as the Food Legend, and Vikas Khanna was awarded the People's Chef. "To be nominated and be ranked among the top eight is a big honour. To be among legendary chefs, I'm filled with gratitude. I've had a very different journey as compared to the others, and I feel blessed that people have taken to my food," shared Kably of Izumi Bandra. Our congratulations.

(Left) Dane Fernandes; Hussain Shahzad

Water for all

In the run up to World Water Day today, Pani Haq Samiti, a people's campaign for universal access to water, recently organised a virtual session to educate attendees about Mumbai's water woes. "Our experts shed light on how Mumbai gets its water, and the manner in which the city's water bodies, including the Mithi River, have been devastated in the name of development. We also discussed possible ways of resolving some pertinent concerns," shared Pravin Borkar, one of the organisers.

Stick to memories

Our in-house cricket nut revisited the Stick Cricket game on his phone recently, to check out if a long gap had blunted his stroke-making skills. He didn't fare too badly, but what surprised him was that the deceased Shane Warne was still among the All Stars bowlers; Curtly Ambrose, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock and Murali Muralitharan being the others in the five-over duel. Should Warne be replaced in the attack or should he stay? Our man prefers to sit on the fence for this one, but he did feel a bit sad when he hit the champion leggie for a six. Cricket fans…they can get so sentimental.

Farewell, MC Tod Fod

Dharmesh Parmar aka MC Tod Fod with the Swadesi crew

It's a tragedy that has shaken the Indian hip-hop circuit. Yesterday, Dharmesh Parmar aka MC Tod Fod, one of the country's most gifted and socially conscious rappers, passed away after suffering a stroke. He was only 24. Parmar was an integral part of Swadesi, a Mumbai-based hip-hop collective that has consistently spoken out against injustice. He also collaborated frequently with The Many Roots Ensemble, an outfit whose front man, Subid Khan, spoke to this diarist about the youngster's legacy. "All we have left is the music he made and what he stood for, and we'd better remember that. He's inspired me and everyone else in our band, and he didn't stick to just the regular hip-hop rhythm. He imbibed influences like konnakol [vocal performance of Carnatic percussion syllables] and Afro beats, and was one of the few people in India doing that," Khan said, highlighting how the country lost a genuinely talented musician way too early.

A tea-rrific idea

Starting today, chai, charcha and drama will brew together at Prithvi Theatre, where the tpot Theatre Fest will play out. tpot is an experimental theatre group set up by Trishla Patel (in pic) and Vishal Capoor, which completed 10 years just before the pandemic struck. Featuring a line-up of 12 plays and five curated masterclasses with veterans such as Ratna Pathak Shah, Sandip Soparrkar, Swanand Kirkire, Makarand Deshpande and Vijay Maurya, the six-day event signals a playback of our pre-COVID theatre fest memories. "Theatre has survived the odds, and I'm very excited to do the festival now, because people have watched enough [web] films and TV, and there's nothing that can replace a live experience. I feel that the art and culture scene of Mumbai needs an injection of festivals to uplift our mood," Patel shared.