Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Afloat and agroundA pair of Great Egrets hover around an anchored boat in Worli KoliwadaChange of guardMartyn Brabbins right Khusroo Suntook Pics Courtesysymphonyorchestra_indiaThere is a new maestro in town Composer and former chief conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and the Malmo Symphony Orchestra Martyn Brabbins will take over from Marat Bisengaliev as the chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India starting January 2026 Having studied composition at the Goldsmiths University London Brabbins went on to be associate principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival and also guest conducted the English National Opera in 2001 Needless to say Mumbai will get its first introduction to Brabbins and his plans for the cityrsquos premier orchestra during the conversation with National Centre of Performing Arts NCPA chairman Khusroo Suntookrsquos conversation with Brabbins at the Experimental Theatre todayFloat like a butterfly in the parkA view of the gardens at Vashi AMC right police personnel help in the planting Pics CourtesyDr V ShubhalaxmiThe iNaturewatch Foundationrsquos ongoing project to create butterfly parks around police stations seems to have got off to a great start Having completed their benchmark of 10 stations across Navi Mumbai the initiative has spread across to five new gardens opening up in Vashi Vashi AMC Turbhe Sanpada and Rabale police stations ldquoThis brings up the count to 15 butterfly gardens in Navi Mumbai The advantage of the gardens is already visible as it has doubled the butterfly population within a span of three monthsrdquo shared founder Dr V Shubhalaxmi In addition to the immediate natural advantage the gardens also offer the police personnel muchneeded relief ldquoThey the police personnel are finding the gardens to be stress relieving and knowing the stressful nature of their work it is nice to know that they are finding comfort in it This was one of the key reasons why we thought of creating more such gardensrdquo she added With the success of this venture the foundation now aims to create more such gardens around police stations in MumbaiThe honour rollKamaladevi Chattopadhyay Pics CourtesyWikimedia CommonsThe longlist for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2025 is out and features a few familiars From Urmila Deshpande and Thiago Pinto Barbosarsquos Iru The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve Speaking Tiger Books to Manu S Pillairsquos Gods Guns and Missionaries The Making of Modern Hindu Identity Penguin to the ever present Salil Tripathirsquos inset The Gujaratis A Portrait of a Community Aleph the list presents a diverse collection of authors in the longlist With the awards to be announced in December itrsquos definitely worth the waitTaking a pawsitive approachYogita Narvekar plays with strays Pics CourtesypalfoundationinThe August 11 Supreme Court ruling asking authorities to relocate the street dogs in Delhi to shelter homes has been the big talking point across India Animal rights activists and welfare organisations from across the nation have expressed their disapproval of of the countryrsquos highest courtrsquos decision As an act of solidarity Pure Animal Lovers PAL Welfare Organisation a panMumbai community working for the wellbeing and protection of animals organised a twohour candle march on August 17 at Shree Swami Samarth Nagar Andheri West in an effort to raise voice for the voiceless while showing their support for streeties in Delhi ldquoThe candle march has been organised to show solidarity with our strays The Supreme Courtrsquos order to move all dogs to shelters is impractical given the shortage of shelter homes in the country While Mumbai is not directly affected by the order it is as good a reason as any to remind people of the straysrsquos plightrdquo Yogita Narverkar member and legal advisor at PAL told this diarist Highlighting the lack of measures taken to neuter the stray population beforehand the advisor reminds people to look for a balanced approach to tackle the critical situation ldquoMumbai is still better in terms of planned neutering because of the many organisations that join hands but letrsquos not wait till our strays face a similar dangerrdquo Narverkar signs off Check palfoundationin for more details