Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

All eyes on bappa

Sculpture enthusiasts carve Ganpati idols in a workshop with sculptor Mahesh Anjerlekar at a venue in Thane.

Pet project

It is time for our furry friends and their parents to have some fun. After a wait of three years, Pet Fed, India's biggest pet festival, is back and will have its annual edition on a bigger, better, and greener scale. The Mumbai edition will be held January 21 and 22 of next year. "I started Pet Fed with the thought of creating a platform which would help us be better pet parents and help us reciprocate the love our pets shower us with every day," shared founder, Akshay Gupta. The festival aims to give pets a day where they can live their lives to the fullest and get pampered in the way they deserve. "The festival is free for those who have adopted indie cats or dogs. We want to encourage adoptions and create awareness about Indian dogs," Gupta said.

Rock and roll

Farhad Wadia with Ehsaan Noorani during the festival

If you're a fan of rock music and your heart beats for live pulsating gigs, here's some good news. The iconic Independence-Rock music festival that was established in 1986 and was the mainstay of India's rock and roll scene through the 1980s and '90s, is back this year for its 28th edition and will be held in November, with 10 bands and a celebration of three decades of rock music. Founder, Farhad Wadia, told us "Intimate storytelling, realistic humane emotions, accomplished musicianship - so much is encapsulated in rock music. It's a privilege to give a new generation of rock fans the opportunity to experience the oldest running rock festival in India."

‘Gara biscuit' and fudna ni choy

This diarist's mother had an unusual breakfast last morning. Into her regular fudna ni choy - the Parsi mint-lemongrass milk tea - she dunked not the usual diet oats biscuit but an aubergine and white icing sugar-embellished cookie that was too pretty to eat. What might have passed off as an embroidered pin badge was actually a cookie with an edible pattern inspired by Parsi Gara embroidery. Designer Ashdeen Lilaowala's signature saree motifs of the longevity-signifying crane, rose and marga (rooster) made it to the biscuits in a unique jamming of fashion and food. Bengaluru-based Cheer Cookie Co., we hear, executed these using Ashdeen's custom artworks to celebrate the opening of his store here. Cookie done with, and choy sipped, it was time to narrate, one more time, how her grandmother spent nights embroidering the narrow saree border or kor. "And you remember that picture of me, as a toddler, in that exquisite Gara jhabla [tunic]?" Yes, Ma (eye roll).

Worming its way to Lisbon

(Left, right) The Book Worm Pavilion at CSMVS

Mumbaikars will recall a certain bookworm that had done its bit by rekindling the love for reading back in November 2019, when the Book Worm Pavilion was installed on the lawns of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Designed by Nuru Karim (below, right) and conceptualised by Priyasri Patodia, the installation enabled readers to touch, read and feel books. Targetted especially at children below 18 years, the pop-up pavilion or "House of Ladders" is now travelling to Spain, where it has been selected for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale "Terra" 2022 that commences in late September. The programme consists of exhibitions, book releases, awards, conferences and independent projects that aim to create a balance between communities, resources and processes. "It's heartwarming that the Book Worm Pavilion is being recognised on an international design platform after the love and warmth it received on Indian shores from all quarters, especially children. True to the curatorial intent, the pavilion explores new paradigms of "place-making" in a globalised, pluralistic society, heralding a transformation from a linear growth model [cities as machines] to a circular evolutionary model [cities as living beings]," Karim told this diarist, reiterating that he hopes it will address challenges faced by climate change, inequities in access to learning resources, and thereby explore the connection between architecture, communities and equitable dissemination of knowledge-based systems.