The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
I've got your back
Who needs a bouncer when you have a husband? Ranveer Singh hugs wife Deepika Padukone in a crowd as they arrive in the city from Italy where they were married. Pic/Satej Shinde
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Henry Eliot at Kitab Khana at Fort. Pic/Atul Kamble
Classic help
As part of a literature festival, Henry Eliot, the creative editor at Penguin Classics, paid a visit to Mumbai last weekend. It wasn't his first trip, we learnt. Eliot, who stopped by the Fort bookstore Kitab Khana, had visited the city back when he was 19. He has now authored a reader's companion called The Penguin Classic Book, for noteworthy books written from the ancient world to the industrial age. Speaking about it, Eliot said, "I imagined myself as a teenager exploring the world of classics. It is also a peaceful read that is a way of letting readers explore the corners of classic books as a big, but finite space."
Bombay to Goa
When actor Vaibhav Raj Gupta and filmmaker Devashish Makhija (in pic) founded Aabobo earlier this year, they gave the indie film fraternity in Mumbai a much-need platform to show small-budget films, and then organise panel discussions after the screening. Now, they are taking Aabobo to Goa at the end of this month, where they will showcase Counterfeit of Kunku by Reema Sengupta and Memories of a Machine by Shailaja Padindala, among other films, at the Museum of Goa in Calangute. The screenings, as usual, will be followed by talks where the panelists will hold a two-way interaction with the audience. These panelists were meant to include filmmakers Anand Gandhi and Q. "But they had to back out at the last minute given the dates," Gupta tells this diarist. Either way, we hope that with Goa being a start, this laudable effort eventually travels far and wide.
The clip deemed as offensive
Is this what's called animal behaviour?
It was meant to be a joke, we are sure. But few people saw any humour in it. Digital media company Filter Copy recently put up a video titled, When you're at a house party and someone starts playing guitar. And its visual content involved a clip from the animated series Family, which showed the character of Glenn Quagmire beating the daylights out of Brian Griffin. That might sound fine, except that Brian Griffin isn't a human being, but a dog. And this had people fuming from the ears in the comments section, since they felt that the clip condones violence against animals. But does it really? Well, we will sit on the fence for this one and let you decide for yourself after watching the video.
A starry meal
Imagine the joyride you could take your taste buds on if two Michelin-star chefs were to prepare a Spanish meal for you. But why just imagine when you can instead attend a dinner that is being curated and prepared by chefs Miguel Barrera Barrachina (in pic) and Ignacio Solana Perez at a SoBo five-star? Speaking of the meal, Barrachina told this diarist, "It's going to be an amazing experience for anyone who has never visited Spain and very nostalgic for someone who has."
Remembering a valiant man
Through a message that began with a quote from Julius Caesar, this diarist received the news of Alyque Padamsee's cremation, which took place in Worli yesterday. "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once," it read. And there couldn't be a more fitting epitaph for Padamsee.
It was in his capacity of a fearless public person that this diarist recalls her first interaction with him, as a cub reporter in 2008. Veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar's home had been vandalised and a meeting had been called at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh. Among several senior journalists who had gathered to condemn the act was Padamsee, with his slight stoop and straightforward remarks. "Why is it that it is always the fourth pillar, the media, which safeguards democracy more than any other institution that is attacked?" he asked. In the following days, it was time to write a detailed report and with trepidation, we dialled his number. "Can you take down what I tell you?" he asked and the conversation was a journalist's dream. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he spoke patiently, choosing every word carefully.
Over the years, this diarist took the liberty to call Padamsee each time Mumbai erupted. And each time, he took it as an opportunity to say what needed to be said, without a care for what could follow. Rest in peace, brave soul.
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