Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

An eggsceptional sweepA housekeeping staffer goes about her day at Oberoi Mall GoregaonParkhappyArtistrsquos impression of the Bandstand parkIn a city starved of open public spaces the Tajend of the Bandstand promenade is set to get a small childrenrsquos park An effort of Bandrabased architect Rinka DrsquoMonte her firm Atelier ARBO OPC Private Limited and local civic officials the park was prompted by her desire to take her fouryearold son to play in open public spaces designed for children ldquoWhen my son was around two years old I started wondering if I could share my point of view on parks and public spaces as a mother and architect with the local authoritiesRinka DrsquoMonteLuckily they have taken my suggestions into account Irsquom working on three parks at Bandstand with themrdquo she shared This particular park is on a 1000011000sqft plot which will have a dedicated play area ldquoI feel that if a park doesnrsquot have a purpose or interest for the public people wonrsquot show up and it wonrsquot get maintained Wersquove finally acquired play equipment thatrsquos designed for ages two to around 12 years the idea is to give the people who come to the park a sense of ownership so that they take care of itrdquo she added about the space which is set to open by the yearendAll for the sake of sitizenryA broadbyMumbaistandards footpath at Prabhadevi got a reading corner and a table with a couple of seats thanks to Dadar Shiv Sena leader Sada Sarvankar some time ago It is a pleasant spot outside the Reliance showroom at the corner of a buzzing intersection where three roads meet A chair had upturned and was broken for a while now and needed attention When Sarvankar was alerted about the broken infra he claimed he was reaching the lsquospotrsquo at once and will ensure it is fixed soon as it is his duty to do so It reminded us of political leaders rushing to the spot post disaster Well whatever Just a reminder that promises are meant to be kept sirs and seeing is believing or in this case we must say seating is believingGreener SoBoNoPlasticJuly may be drawing to a close but the spirit of recycling and reducing plastic waste is alive Giants Group of Chowpatty and Rotaract Club of Mumbai Downtown who have been conducting monthly drives to collect plastic waste for three years now recently joined hands with Urvari an NGO that we had recently written about on this page They create shelters for strays using ecobricks made of discarded plastic bottles ldquoWe have already been taking plastic waste to a bottled water manufacturerrsquos plant to have them converted into benches which are then installed at railway stations and schools for underprivileged children The shelters for strays are a step forward in this directionrdquo said Toral Mazumdar its joint director of administrationCapturing the endA still from the filmIntrigued by the existence of a photographer who captures last rites in Varanasi Mumbaibased filmmaker Gaurav Madan along with friend cinematographer and coproducer Sunny Lahiri set off on a journey to meet the fellow who worked at Manikarnika Ghat in 2019Gaurav MadanMadanrsquos debut feature film Barah by Barah which has been making a buzz at film fests is inspired by this photographer It recently got selected at the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart ldquoWe tailed him and found that hersquos one of the last few of his ilk because everyone has smartphones these days and arenrsquot keen to avail of their services anymorerdquo he saidSupport for Indiarsquos studentsOne of the prints that thebigfatbao is offering for the fundraiserEarlier this month Instagrambased illustrator thebigfatbao along with a few other artists had posted an open call for illustrators and digital artists to put their work up online The intent was to raise funds for students from marginalised communities who were racing against time to generate money to be able to further their foreign education Instead of paying the artists directly the proceeds would be sent to the studentsrsquo fundraisers The open call that closed on July 12 has currently amassed 18 artists who are set to sell their prints and artworks till July 31 ldquoWersquove priced the artworks in US dollars Itrsquos completely unethical to price these in rupees and sell 30 A5 art prints for Rs 500 each The cost of printing itself is expensive People can pick whichever set they want from the five sets some of which wersquove tried to make into collages They can also identify and pick which student or candidate theyrsquod like to donate tordquo said thebigfatbao ldquoOur Prime Minister says lsquobeti bachao beti padhaorsquo so we want to lsquopadhaorsquo our girls and lsquobachaorsquo our countryrdquo she added To support the initiative visit thebigfatbao on Instagram