Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Sameer Markande

Time for a rethink?

We hope common sense prevails over this Covidiot walking past Ghatkopar railway station as he halts to check out face masks on sale.

Coming full circle at Chemould

Prafull Dave in conversation with Rashna Imhasly-Gandhy

As Mumbai's art galleries make the online switch again, Chemould Prescott Road's upcoming virtual show is a special one. Opening this Friday, Into the Light will see works by veteran artist Prafull Davé, whose relationship with the gallery dates back to 1969, when the space was helmed by Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy. The Indian-born octogenarian who currently resides in Zürich studied under the mentorship of greats including NS Bendre and KG Subramanyan. Between 1958 and 1961, Davé also had his artist studio at The Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute in Warden Road, which served as the breeding ground for artists such as MF Husain and Vasudeo Gaitonde. And although his show is being curated by eminent art historian Jacqueline Burckhardt, Rashna Imhasly-Gandhy, transpersonal psychologist and gallerist Shireen Gandhy's sister, helped put this show together. "When I visited Prafull at his studio in Zürich in the summer of 2019 and saw the cachet of his many paintings, all stacked and carefully wrapped in plastic except for the later ones exhibited on the wall, the idea of an exhibition was born," Rashna said, while Burckhardt added that Davé's paintings are "imbued with creative and spiritual energy". That's something to look forward to.

Beats for Mumbai

Roshan Gamare and Gaurav Gambhir

Popular beatboxers Gaurav Gambhir aka D-Cypher and Roshan Gamare aka Beat-RAW will pay tribute to the city of dreams in a beatboxing musical titled Aamchi Mumbai that releases today. "We're joining hands with composer Daniel George to make a track that is a tribute to the city, completely done through beatboxing without any external production. We're trying to portray the sounds that you hear on the streets of Mumbai and the lyrics are inspired by daily experiences that people of the city go through," Gambhir revealed. Check out their catchy beats on erosnow.com.

Fighting stigma

Maheema Misra and Milana Prakash

May is observed as both Mental Health Awareness Month and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Awareness month. Maheema Misra and Milana Prakash are 20-somethings who started BPD Humans, an Instagram page-cum-support group to dissect BPD and build a community. Next month, they aim to launch a series of free workshops called Ebb and Flow with mental health professionals exclusively for those diagnosed with BPD. Misra said that the idea was "to provide for something where people don't have to worry about paying, and still find places where they can learn [about], and find the skills to get through the disorder." Prakash also highlighted that the title, Ebb and Flow, is a placid ocean-like metaphor for something as tumultuous as BPD: "Episodes come and go in the form of waves at the shore, sometimes rough, and other times, gentle. This month-long event is a tribute to that life-altering experience."

On the trail of India's missing girls

A still from From the Shadows

Ever since Powai-based filmmaker Miriam Chandy Menacherry spotted the painted silhouette of a child tagged #missinggirls in Kolkata, the stencilled wall art and its implied reality of child sex-trafficking has followed her around. Five years ago, she started shooting a feature documentary, From The Shadows, setting out to capture the Subcontinent's most trafficked route.

It has been chosen for multiple national and international forums and was set to be completed in 2020, but the pandemic derailed their plans. "Usually, we raise money through grants, but a lot of them collapsed, so we started a crowdfunding initiative. We're in the last leg of the film, and we felt this is the best way to give the film the impact it deserves," she shared. Pitch in on gocrowdera.com/From-The-Shadows.

Because taste matters, too

For those trying to keep their health in check but not willing to sacrifice on taste, chef Michael Swamy has the perfect fix. In his new book, The Diabetic Cookbook, Swamy features a list of delectable recipes tailor-made for diabetic people. "Diabetes runs in my family, my mum had it as well, so the inspiration came from there. Even though diabetes might make people cut certain items out of their diet, food doesn't have to be monotonous," he told this diarist, adding, "The book has 80 recipes divided into salads, soups, starters, mains, breads and desserts. It also includes recipes based on lentils and types of khichdi."