Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

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

A starry affair

If you want to learn more about how the universe was created, now is your chance. The Nehru Planetarium in Worli is reopening tomorrow after the pandemic with a show called Biography of the Universe, which deals with the birth of the universe, the formation of galaxies, stars, the solar system and ultimately life on Earth. It lasts about 40 minutes and Arvind Paranjpye, the planetarium’s director informed that online tickets won’t be available; you can only buy them at the door. “We have a capacity of 500 people, which will be reduced to 250 so that we can have alternate seating. We are taking things cautiously, and will follow all government protocols,” he assured us, adding that the list of programmes has otherwise been retained. 

A short win

Filmmaker Suman Sen has reason to smile after his short film, Silent Echo, won The Best Short award at Raindance Film Festival, which operates in major cities including London and Berlin. The win means that he’s now one step closer to an Oscar nomination, because winning entries at this fest can directly apply to the Academy of Motion Pictures for that opportunity. “That makes life a lot easier since you don’t have to follow conditions you’d otherwise have to comply with,” Sen shared. Our best wishes to him. 

A still from Silent Echo

Say cheese for India

Desi cheese-makers made the country proud at the recently held World Cheese Awards in Spain. For starters, Mumbai-based cheese-maker Mansi Jasani (below), who runs The Cheese Collective, became the first Indian judge to take part in the competition that saw the participation of over 4,000 cheeses. “Apart from being the first Indian judge, I was also the first Indian superjury. I was very honoured and humbled to be chosen. It was amazing meeting people from different places that have a great history of cheese-making, as well as mingling with emerging cheese-makers. I got to try so many kinds of cheese from across the world,” she told this diarist, adding that it was a proud moment to see an Indian cheese enter the contest for the first time as well. We’re happy to hear that this desi brown cheese — Eleftheria Brunost (top) — eventually bagged a silver at the competition. 

For Dr Ali

If there’s one man who has done the most for ornithology in India, it is Dr Salim Ali. The birth anniversary of the man who wrote The Book of Indian Birds will be celebrated on November 12. As part of it, Bombay Natural History Society’s Conservation Education Centre is organising a bird trail on its campus at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Goregaon East. “Dr Ali is really the man who put ornithology on the map of India,” BNHS secretary Debi Goenka said, adding that the walk is likely to feature hornbills, peafowls and other species.

The cycle of life and death

The Indian music circuit lost a key member recently when keyboardist Subhas Mondol, one of the founding members of Bandish Fusion along with sitarist Subhen Chatterjee, passed away aged 66 years in Kolkata last week. Sambit Chatterjee, drummer for the band, shared how ironic it was that the last song that Mondol played was called Samsara, which translates into the cycle of life and death. Sambit added, “We’ve learnt a world of things from him. The biggest is unconditional love; love and friendship that have no transaction involved. He was punctual to the T, honest and extremely funny. These are true, loving, mindful and genuine human beings.” 

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