Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Blossoms for a memory

Young members of a family pay floral tribute to a loved one at Sewri Christian Cemetery on All Souls' Day.

KGAF, ready to fly

After taking on a virtual avatar last year, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival - a much-loved part of the city's cultural calendar - is set to come back in an offline avatar in February 2022. Brinda Miller, honorary chairperson of the Kala Ghoda Association, told this diarist that she feels excited and nervous in equal parts. Keeping in mind COVID-19 protocols, the festival will be organised in a smaller format. "We're not going to have stalls on the street; they will be online, as they're really popular and draw too many people. We're hoping to do a lot of aerial installations because this year, the theme is Udaan - which represents freedom and the ability to fly," she added.

BDL is back in action

The city's art, culture and heritage scene is abuzz again. Among the slew of organisations and venues that have opened up to the public again is Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum. The museum, which opened its doors on November 1, is following all the government-recommended safety protocols regarding COVID-19, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, its managing trustee and director, assured us.

"We are delighted to welcome people to the museum again after such a long hiatus. A museum lives through its visitors," she shared. She added that a number of exhibitions are on the cards. "We are also collaborating with VAICA to present a video art festival [in November-December]. Artists and creative people have struggled through the last 18 months without a platform to showcase their work. The museum is an important platform for young people to hone their creative skills. We are also planning smaller workshops, where we will follow all safety protocols," she said.

Sticky business

Pic Courtesy/@RoadsOfMumbai

In a bid to promote safer driving, Roads of Mumbai - a social media page dedicated to better roads, and traffic-related issues - has come up with packs of quirky stickers that make for unconventional Diwali gifts. The stickers highlight various issues that are the bane of drivers and traffic regulators in the city - following speed limits, being kind to fellow drivers, not honking, wearing helmets, paying heed to traffic lights and crawling traffic on Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway - with tongue-in-cheek text that Mumbaikars can relate to. Each sticker is priced at R70 and the packs are for Rs 200. To get yourself a sticker, visit @RoadsOfMumbai on Twitter.

Songs of hope

Pic Courtesy/Souvid Datta

London-based musician, composer and TV presenter Soumik Datta, who was born in Mumbai, has won a British Council commission for climate change for an animation and music project titled Songs Of The Earth. The film and the album released at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. "Both the film and the album take you on a journey across the earth - parts of that journey will be difficult, unsettling and hard-hitting. The lyrics and the animation might make you rethink and re-examine some basic, everyday choices. But it's also a story of discovering hope to unite and fight climate change, and demanding more from our leaders for the sake of our children and the future of our species," he explained.

RIP, Pat Martino

Pic Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

The pantheon of jazz legends lost a member recently when Pat Martino passed away at the age of 77. The guitarist from Philadelphia was one of those musicians who could tell stories with his notes. "He'd say them in a soft-spoken manner with his acoustic guitar," shared city-based jazz aficionado Sunil Sampat, adding, "He'd conjure images for you. Pat Martino was a listener's guitarist - there's no point if you play him in the background while driving a car. He brought a level of sensibility to jazz that has lessened a great deal in the sound of today." Martino started playing professionally at the age of 15. Sixty-two years later, he leaves behind a legacy that will be hard to replicate.