Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Never off duty

A police constable feeds her child while on duty at the Marine Drive promenade

Next rickshaw halt: Kochi

Omkar Dhareshwar with the revamped rickshaw he drove

Planning to head to Leh on your hardy motorcycle? We say it's passé. In a recent feat, Mumbai's Omkar Dhareshwar drove an auto rickshaw for over 3,000 km from Gangtok to Kochi within 14 days. And his moment of pride? "We took the most difficult route, which included a halt in Mumbai. But at least I was home for Ganeshotsav," the flow artiste shared with this diarist. Dhareshwar became part of the Rickshaw Run 2023 at the last moment. "Participants usually include foreigners who wish to explore a new country in a different way. But one of them backed out, and that's when I came in. I was the only Indian among 150-plus participants," he said, adding that they would start their journey every day at around 5 am, and stop only after it's dark. Although, including Mumbai in their route wasn't the most feasible option. "We were supposed to leave from Mumbai on September 18, but ended up leaving on September 21 because our rickshaw broke down." And so, Dhareshwar completed the journey of 1,430 km in three and half days. "I drove like a madman," he recalled, adding that after a few more challenges, he finally reached the finish line at 3.55 pm, five minutes before the closing time. Deservedly, he received the Never Say Die award for this touch-and-go journey.

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Making Mondays fun

Manoj Omre's recent AI artworks reimagine the city's common modes of transport with a touch of fun

If you have ever tried turning your Monday blues a shade brighter, you will appreciate freelance designer and animator Manoj Omre's pursuit to make Mondays fun again.

Although coloured with a touch of sarcasm, Omre's artificial intelligence-based artwork series of Monday commutes include office-goers riding hot air balloon BEST buses, rollercoaster metros and inflated rickshaws to work. Omre told this diarist, "I've observed sad or emotionless expressions on people when we're travelling to work on Mondays, and thought about how we could add fun to this monotonous ride in a parallel world."

Let's learn to breathe better

Waatavaran, a social venture dedicated to sustainability, will tackle the topic of the city's air pollution at a film screening and panel discussion titled No To Burning In Mumbai at Mumbai Press Club this afternoon. Founder Bhagwan Kesbhat shared, "We need clear-cut interventions like promoting non-motorised transportation as well as managing waste in neighbourhoods instead of burning it in waste-to-energy plants which will create havoc for the air quality in Mumbai."

Gourmet grub

The 25,000-sq-ft space offers gourmet grocery items and produce

When Foodhall, Bandra Linking Road's luxury mega grocery store shut down a few months ago, we wondered how the paparazzi would now photograph Kareena Kapoor Khan in her domestic avatar. Luckily, the space has been claimed by another gourmet store, Food Square. Kapoor-Khan and the rest of us who missed buying imported food products, including classic wines and exotic vegetables can now heave a sigh of relief because the multi-storeyed store is fully operational, complete with a French pâtisserie, a cheese cellar, and a dedicated café along with grocery sections. Will the space be the 2.0 version of the previous occupant? Only a proper walkthrough will reveal more.

Bappa speaks for the voiceless

The six-by-six-foot installation at Franklin Paul's Sion home

Sion resident Franklin Paul's Ganeshotsav celebrations focus on a social cause every year. Previously, the art decorator had raised the issue of waterlogging in Mumbai by creating a Ganesh idol sitting on a submerged branch in a flooded street.

This year, his social project Voice for the Voiceless takes on animal abuse in a replica of the route that pilgrims take at Kedarnath where mules are subjected to carry heavy loads. "I have also used sustainable material and included mechanical horses in the set-up," Paul (inset) remarked.