Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Sleeping roughUsing a table and bench as a makeshift bed two essential workers nap at Lokmanya Tilak TerminusCanvassing for supportUntitled by MF Husain is part of Delhi Art Galleryrsquos Fundraiser SaleFinancial help is of the essence right now and art galleries are stepping up Delhi Art Gallery has announced a sale till May 16 where proceeds up to a crore go towards Covid19 relief efforts Citybased Method Art Space had started a creative centre for underprivileged children in Versovarsquos slums Now theyrsquove come together with four artists to sell artwork where all proceeds will benefit the families of these children ldquoOne of the most brutal aspects of the pandemic is that the children are missing their midday meal which is provided by the government schools Wersquove known the kids for nine years or so I can tell you they rely on that mealrdquo founder Sahil Arora shared To contribute visit dagworldcom and shopthemethodcomScary pageturnerFresh off winning the Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar celebrated Goabased screenwriter and novelist Venita Coelho will have a new title to her name come May 17 Dark Tales is a collection of fictional ghost stories from across the country and will be released by Penguin India Itrsquos suitable for readers aged above nine Coelho told this diarist ldquoI wanted to do more than just scare people I wanted to tap into our collective fears as a nation So these stories are set against contemporary backdrops that resound with every Indian mdash against the Nithari killings against the Nirbhaya case against terrorists preparing bombs They are completely contemporary and very scary Donrsquot read these in the darkrdquo But therersquos more to look forward to apart from the release The rights for this collection have been acquired by the digital content company Only Much Louder who are optioning it for a series So stay tunedOne for the kidsAn illustration by Taniya a nineyearold for her story The Princess and The Sun Pic courtesyThinkartsKolkatabased nonprofit ThinkArts along with Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council and the International Literature Festival BuchBasel conceived Let Me Tell You A Story an online repository of stories written by children during the lockdown last year Now theyrsquove released a set of 30 stories mdash the first set out of 100 to come mdash written by children aged between six and nine While 45 have been narrated by Indian storytellers 15 are illustrated by Swiss artists The tales are quite diverse too ldquoThese stories have been a wonderful source of hope and joy at ThinkArts in these unprecedented circumstances We wanted to share the experience with peoplerdquo said Analina Sanyal programme manager at the nonprofit The group plans to release the remaining material in sets of 35 each over the next two weeks You can read the stories at wwwthinkartscoinAn animated win for comicsAbhijeet Kini and Reena PuriWhile prose and poetry get due recognition occasionally itrsquos heartening to see the comic books industry celebrated And Animation Xpress a leading platform for Indian animation VFX gaming and comics has brought good news Theyrsquove announced the winners of this yearrsquos edition of Comic Books amp More Awards across a range of categories mdash commending the efforts of both artists and publishers Amar Chitra Katha grabbed three awards with its executive editor Reena Puri winning Best Comic Book Editor We were also glad to spot a familiar city name mdash illustrator and animator Abhijeet Kini whose Essential Angry Maushi 2020 Edition won Best Graphic Novel ndash reprint as well as Best Comic Book Merchandise The Lifetime Achievement Award was handed over to Gulshan Rai the founder of Diamond Comics Our congratulationsCall for mental health awarenessIn April last year mental health initiative MPower came together with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC to launch a 247 helpline service Since then they have received over 72000 calls from across India and they have now released key findings from the data they collected While 25 per cent of those calls were rooted in anxiety and stress 10 per cent were attributed to depression Whatrsquos also interesting is that 70 per cent of callers were male which challenges the popular perception that men shy away from expressing themselves Over 50 per cent of calls also came from those aged between 26 and 40 years ldquoThe goal is to use this to strengthen our resolve towards making mental healthcare more accessible across the country and to ensure that each and every citizen can seek the help that heshe needsrdquo Neerja Birla founder MPower shared