Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Christmas is in the airAn aerial Santa Claus teases children who try to reach him for gifts at Shivaji Park in Dadar West on ThursdayThis festival sounds litThe second list of speakers for the Jaipur Literature Festival has been announced and authors such as Avni Doshi Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Anne Applebaum have been added to the equation Asked what she takes into consideration while curating this list every year codirector Namita Gokhale told this diarist I keep in mind the rich diversity of the Indian literatures as well as important and interesting writing from around the world I get suggestions and book alerts from friends and book lovers My codirector William Dalrymple and the producer Sanjoy Roy both have their own range of interests and the final result is an array of sessions that truly represent timeless books and ideas and those which are pertinent to our changing timesKayaking in the KonkanKayaking is typically considered an adventure sport however the Mangrove Foundation of Maharashtra is offering kayaking with a difference at two locations in the state Under the governments Mangrove Conservation and Livelihood Generation Scheme we are training local villagers in Raigad and Ratnagiri to identify local biodiversity These guides lead our kayaking excursions said Vandan Jhaveri assistant director of ecotourism at The Mangrove Foundation The rides are conducted on twoseater kayaks which visitors can paddle through waistdeep water The route is dependent on the tide and a 45minute ride is priced at 300 Kayaking offers a closer look at the biodiversity and mangrove root systems Jhaveri told this diarist and allows visitors to explore narrower channels that are not accessible via larger boatsVicky in BandraChef Vicky Ratnani has something exciting up his sleeve He is going to launch a new venture called The Speak Easy Kitchen nestled in the corner of Pali Hill in Bandra It will first start off as a delivery and takeawayonly joint but Ratnani told this diarist that he plans to create 10 seats at the venue in a months time The place will have seasonal menus with rotisserie roast chicken freshly handmade pastas and artisanal focaccia sandwiches he shared adding that he has already started delivering holiday roast veg and nonveg boxes as part of the venture before the eatery opens with its full menuCommon Man ClausLaxmans Legacy an online platform dedicated to keep the work of late legendary cartoonist RK Laxman alive has sent across a greeting This Merry Christmas and New Year wish touched a chord with this diarist it is a selfexplanatory tweak on RK Lamans famous creation the Common Man who looked at the complexities that make up our country with his own point of view The Common Man Santa in the new cartoon wants to see the end of Corona and 2020 like all of us do His bag of gifts masks was the painful perennial this year As for the sanitiser in his hand for the New Year we do hope that you will be celebrating with another kind of bottle rather than the cleaning staple we have been saddled with all yearTowering push for the planetCitybased contemporary artist Bandana Jain is best known for her corrugated cardboard works But her latest installation at Bandras Basilica Of Our Lady of The Mount features a unique medium plastic bags And she has designed it for a noble cause during the festive season The 10ft Christmas tree is meant to spread awareness about the detrimental effect of singleuse plastic on the environment The tree comprises clear polythene bags milk packets and packaged food bags which end up in the sewage and ultimately pollute the ocean In the installation each bag is also filled with ocean water and a hint of sand and gutter water as a metaphor to reiterate this fact In total 700 bags form the Christmas tree Jain invites the viewer to think about how the longterm effect of our excessive use of plastic especially when a single shopping bag takes over a 1000 years to degrade It took three days to make the sculpture although I took longer to conceptualise it It will be at the church till January 10 I want to make many more installations and permanent sculptures to create awareness about sustainability she told this diarist