Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

City of sitars

Sitar maestro Purbayan Chatterjee clicks a selfie with sitarists and Russian violinist Nastya Saraswati at a rehearsal near Shivaji Park

Like poetry in motion

Participants read poems at a previous poetry crawl session

If Mumbai was a poem, its local trains that flow effortlessly would be its verses. The Ladies Local Poetry Crawl by The Bombay Poetry Crawl will witness participants hop onto a local train and read poems written by female poets that explore life in the Maximum City "I have been studying poetry written about Mumbai for nearly five years now.

There exist many lesser-known female poets who have encapsulated the spirit of the city perfectly," Saranya Subramanian (inset), founder, told this diarist. The participants will be handed a brochure of curated poems that will be read on a return trip from Prabhadevi to Churchgate during the poetry crawl this weekend. Those interested, (only female-identifying persons) can log on to @thebombaypoetrycrawl.

Fifty and counting

Sahil Makhija (right) at an eatery

Food critic Sahil Makhija is living every foodie's dream, but not without a cause. Setting out to find the best pizza in the city in November, Makhija recently reached the milestone of 50 pizzas, all tried and tasted. Asked about how his body is taking to the challenge, he chuckled, "I have actually lost weight along the way. I practise intermittent fasting, and take only a few bites of the pizza I'm tasting." The food critic added that his biggest learning has been that it's the ingredients that make a pizza and buzzwords like woodfire-baked don't always live up to the hype.

Lorna-palooza in Bandra

Lorna Cordeiro with Philip D'Souza

Last Sunday, the audience at Bandra Gymkhana was treated to tunes by the Nightingale of Goa. Lorna Cordeiro rendered a soul-soothing performance that had the crowd moving to familiar notes that she's made popular for decades now. Among the many who gathered to witness her live was Mumbai's Philip D'Souza. "You are not a true Goan if you don't love Lorna," said D'Souza, "She has entertained four generations of my family - right from my grandfather to my two-year-old daughter. Her energy remains the same." D'Souza was quick to secure one of the front rows of her concert. "When we met her, she was getting ready to perform, but she allowed us to click pictures with her. During the show, we were right under her nose, cheering on her. She got impressed, invited some of us [on stage] and sang along with us." Lorna performed songs like Tuzo mog, Piso and Bebdo, among others.

Let's say it the old-fashioned way

The messenger pigeon made out of upcycled textile waste

Love never goes out of fashion, and old-fashioned love most definitely doesn't. Juhu Beach Studio, an upcycled textile accessories brand is giving lovebirds in the city the chance to send Valentine's Day messages to their loved ones the OG way - through a pigeon. Their latest launch, a pigeon made out of upcycled textiles, carries a letter tied to its leg that is delivered straight to the receiver's doorstep. "We have all read about lovers communicating through pigeons in novels and films. I believe we have all craved for sweet gestures like these at some point," Prakruthi Rao, co-founder, shared. Much like a bird that once inhabited the Internet, the messenger pigeon can carry up to 100 characters in a message. Rao assured this diarist that the trusted bird is also open to carrying messages between friends and families. Those interested, can log on to juhubeachstudio.com.

An adventurous crossover

Illustrated postcards from the series. Pics courtesy/Instagram

Bakarmax comics' latest twist imagines Chacha Chaudhary in Tintin's world. If that doesn't blow your mind, the train of thought that led founder Sumit Kumar to the idea, will. "I noticed that Chacha Chaudhary, without his iconic pagdi resembles Tintin to quite an extent," he shared, adding that the series of postcards titled The Adventures of Chacha Chaudhary imagines how things would've unfolded if late writer Pran Kumar Sharma had set his stories overseas. Sharing the thought behind the Prophet's Lost Hair, one of the artworks, Kumar shared, "It's based on Tintin and The Broken Ear. I learnt about a similar incident that happened in Kashmir a while ago where the Prophet's hair, preserved in a shrine, was lost and subsequently found later. It's fascinating how life can imitate
art sometimes."