Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Two differentArt Deco buildings facing Oval MaidanItrsquos a tale of two neighbourhoods The Oval Maidan and Marine Drive areas in South Mumbai share a similar architectural history as the DadarMatunga locality in the sense that both places are dotted with beautiful Art Deco buildings But while the SoBo precinct is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site the buildings in DadarMatunga are falling into disrepair Why is that Thatrsquos the question Dr Kamalika Banerjee from the department of sociology at National University of Singapore will explore at an online lecture The Curious Case of South Mumbai Civil Society Art Deco Mumbai Trust is organising it and foundertrustee Atul Kumar told this diarist ldquoThe two places came up in the same style and both served the socalled middle class and the elite Yet their story of conversation couldnrsquot be more differentrdquo Visit townscriptcom to registerChennai on their radarStories from a Forgotten War by Parvathi Nayar and Nayantara Nayar which will be on display at the biennaleThe third edition of the Chennai Photo Biennale is back in a hybrid format Keeping in sync with the times the biennale will be conducted both physically and digitally from December 9 to February 6 and will be available for audiences Called Maps Of Disquiet this event raises awareness about social environmental and technological crises Commenting on the theme visual artistes and curators Arko Datto Baoz Levin Bhooma Padmanabhan and Kerstin Meincke told this diarist ldquoCurating this biennale in these circumstances was a way of thinking about how our perceptions of the world have been shaped by images and how images help us make sense of the worldrdquoLending a handWe all get by with a little help and lsquoa little helprsquo is what independent artistes need the most As we welcome the secondedition of Udaan a levelup fund looking to mentor and support indie musicians founder of OK Listen Vijay Basrur shared ldquoBeing able to help artistes reach a wider audience more effectively feels good We have been doing this for a while but this time itrsquos only been a week that we have put out a call for applications We are awaiting more applicationsrdquo A collaboration between OK Listen The Indian Music Diaries and nukeSound the initiative will augment the journey of musicians for the next five months with resources worth 1 lakh On being asked if they are looking for any specific entry Basrur adds ldquoWe are not biased towards any genre All we need is a singersongwriterrdquo For communityrsquos sakeA music event in December 2019 at The StepsIt is intrinsic to link a city to its social and cultural fabric The St Stephens Steps at Bandra that were reimagined and brought to life from a derelict state by architects Anca Florescu Abraham and Alan Abraham are now looking for streetmural artists for its sidewalls ldquoWe are calling for artists to send their mural art proposals around the concept of joy We have had two very rough years during which the idea of coming together or community was somewhat defeated Since coming together brings us joy we themed our project around thatrdquo Anca said The call for submissions closes on December 8 She also mentions that they have not received too many entries yet and are waiting for the call to catch on To apply log on to thestepsbandra Aarey forest in safe and green handsIt would be unjust to talk about the Aarey forest the lung of Mumbai and not give activists and green volunteers their due credit The Restore Aarey Forest movement recently celebrated its first birthday and communityled groups couldnrsquot be happier The drive that started on November 29 last year was led by nonprofit organisations nature lovers and the tribal inhabitants of Aarey After completing a year Sushant Bali a member of the Youth For Aarey initiative told this diarist ldquoI think we have planted over 1000 samples but with the recent rains wersquore thinking of assessing numbers againrdquo Their group consists of four members where each of them equally contributed to the restoration ldquoOther people who joined the drive also came with specific skills When we started out we had to depend on the adivasis to understand the local flora and fauna Reforestation meant mimicking the forest that was around us So it was a process that involved both learning and applicationrdquo he explained The green warriors accumulated information and ran it by experts in the field ldquoWe got it whetted by wildlife biologist Anand Pendharkar and other researchers toordquo Bali further describes how they also had to make a list of what mammals in the area eat and plant flora accordingly Although the process has been arduous he says the progress satisfies them and they are looking at the long road ahead