Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

First day blues

As schools reopen across the city, two young children ponder over their first day at a school in Dadar

Who's the funniest of them all?

The nominees include Cyrus Broacha, Kanan Gill and Urooj Ashfaq. PICS COURTESY/INSTAGRAM

We're pulling our socks up for yet another polling session. DeadAnt, a city-based venture that promotes the art form, has announced the DeadAnt Annual Comedy Awards 2024. "Indian stand-up comics are scaling new heights every day. However, the scene remains fragmented. The awards will bring the best achievements from the past one year to the fore," shared Ravina Rawal, its founder. The voting for the popular choice categories like best podcast, best social media game, and best YouTube channel are now open. "Social media has become an inseparable part of a comedian's life. These categories will recognise artistes who have cracked the algorithm," she revealed.

Watch out for the cyber bully

Young participants at the event

Children at the Dhai Akshar NGO in Versova learnt a lesson in cyber safety over the last weekend. An initiative by Cyber Bullying Awareness, Action and Prevention (Cyber BAAP) aimed to equip pre-teens with methods and measures to deal with cyber bullying and safety. "One might think it's too early, while in fact, it's possibly a little too late.

Children as young as six years old are taking to gaming. Online gaming lobbies are a hotbed of bullying," revealed Nirali Bhatia, its founder, adding that young victims often find it difficult to consult their parents. This diarist was happy to learn that the organisation's new self-titled app, available online, is making help accessible for survivors.

Urbanisation and its mobility

The theme image of the festival. Pic Courtesy/Frank Holleman

Nagari, a short film festival organised by the Charles Correa Foundation has announced its theme for the year - mobility in Urban India. "In the last five years, Nagari has become a platform to use films as a medium to educate audiences about the issues people face in urban India. This year, we are focusing on a major concern - mobility," shared director Nondita Correa Mehrotra. The festival urges filmmakers to gauge and question the plight of both the tangible and intangible infrastructures facilitating urban mobility. "Our aim is to focus on both the positive and negative stories of people's movement within and across cities," she revealed.

Laapata mynas' happy ending

(Left) The rescued myna; (right) the parent myna meets her child

A family of mynas in Mulund have pulled off a natural adaptation, and it's not the kind you'd imagine. When rescue volunteer Kunal Thakkar took home an injured myna that had fallen off a tree in the area last week, he didn't imagine things would soon take a filmy turn. "Nearly one week into fostering the bird and watching it learn how to fly, I noticed another myna frequenting my housing society," he recalled.

Thakkar later realised it was the mother who had somehow made her way to rescue her child. "The incident reminded me of the movie Laapata Ladies, which follows a similar storyline," Thakkar shared. The climax however, was yet to come. "I put the myna in a cage outside to see how the mother would react. Once I was sure it was the mother, we let the bird free. The duo was extremely cautious even during their escape. They looked around for predators and only after the mother gave it a final green flag, did they both fly away, possibly back home," Thakkar revealed to this diarist.

Making way for the will

To be or not to be; shouldn't be that complex of a question, believes Mohit Kapoor, secretary, Worli Seaface Morning Walkers' Association. A seminar on living wills - legal documents that outline the extent of medical care one wants to receive in cases where one is not able to communicate it - will be conducted in collaboration with Maharashtra National Law University and Pro Bono Club at the Nehru Centre on June 14. "In the absence of such a will, the onus is passed to the individual's next of kin, who might not be in the right state of mind to take the call. The living will ensures you don't just live a dignified life but also but also experience dignity in death" he shared with this diarist. The seminar will be presided over by Dr Anand Raut and Dr Garima Pal of MNLU who will conduct a Q&A session to answer the audience's queries. Those interested, can call 7208504427 for more details and registrations.