Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

Shoe-horning this look

You'd have to give it to Sussanne Khan for roaming around in this odd lace-salwar-sneakers combination when out for lunch with friends in BKC. Pic/Shadab Khan

Gassi, with a French twist

It was a known thing among this city's foodies that the Le 15 property, Table No 13, was chef Pablo Naranjo Agular's baby. Now that the chef is globetrotting, having ended his partnership at the well-known franchise, TB13's future is unknown. Or so we thought, until we learnt that chef Shriya Shetty, who's gaining currency in the Mumbai food scene, will be taking over the kitchen, at least for the moment.

Does this mean it's going to become the ground for collaborations between independent chefs and Le 15? "We started with the idea to offer unique fare to our patrons, for one night only. It hasn't changed since Pablo left. It was always a collaborative effort between us. Now, I do look at it as a platform to work with different chefs or create something myself," Dhingra told this diarist.

Elaborating on the spread, which is going to feature classic Mangalorean specials with a French twist, Shetty said, "I'm using classic French techniques to create Mangalorean dishes. So, they will look and feel French, but the flavours will be a 100 per cent Mangalorean. Think ghee croissants and orechetti pasta made of rice. To make it more interesting, I'm using only local and seasonal ingredients to create all the dishes."

A new chapter

For three years now, G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture has proven to be a fertile ground for the arts. As the organisation-cum-performance centre enters its fourth year, a change is on the cards.

We've learnt that they plan to divide their calendar year into two parts — Zero Period, when their main performance theatre, the Black Box, will be used only for rehearsals; and Season, which will include a gamut of performances.

There are new properties to look forward to as well under their performance long-run programme, beginning in October with a sound and performance piece by Mumbai-based artist Sujay Saple (inset below). The second long run is called Water Games, directed-choreographed by Michel Casanovas.

Sujay Saple

Also look out for independent music Thursdays, where Tajdar Junaid (inset, top) will kick off proceedings.

Dabba, roti and a warm thought

The monsoons are romantic for some and difficult for others. Especially for those living without proper housing. For them, the Dabbawala Association and Mumbai Roti Bank have come together for a heart-warming initiative.

Through it, they are collecting food and other provisions, which will be distributed in flood-affected areas of Maharashtra. Now, that's some food for thought.

The desi bard

Floccinaucinihilipilification. Trust Shashi Tharoor to use words that would leave even the British flummoxed. It's one in a long list that includes gems like farrago, rodomontades and snollygoster. The senior Congress MP has also written over 16 books, and his jolly good British accent completes his persona of being a man who probably picks the dictionary for bed-time reading.

So, it is small wonder then that a WhatsApp forward doing the rounds has a photo where Tharoor's face is superimposed on a portrait of William Shakespeare. He shared the photo, captioning it, "Thanks to whoever did so, though I am completely unworthy of the honour!" Now that is a rare instance of him stringing a sentence with words that you don't need a PhD in literature to understand.

Drive-time stories

"Booked an Uber in Pune and told the driver, 'Bhaiyya, do minute mein aaya,' and then this happened," Sapan Verma, comedian and founder of East India Comedy wrote online. It so happened that Verma was in Pune looking for a cab.

Once booked, and after it arrived, the funnyman from Mumbai, perhaps out of habit, referred to the driver as "bhaiyya", only to realise later that his chauffeur was in fact a woman named Rukhmini. What was heart-warming was that Verma apologised to the lady and even chatted and took pictures with her. "...an ace driver with great stories to tell," he wrote.

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