Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

Let sleepiing dogs lieA man and his best friend share a snooze at a garden in Chembur on FridayGrove stateLetrsquos not forget that Mumbairsquos coastline is protected by mangroves which provide a buffer to this concrete jungle that we inhabit Biodiversity by the Bay is a festival that is returning for its second edition The first initiative they have undertaken is to call out for entries from creators to send in videos artwork poems songs and other activities that highlight the need to protect Mumbairsquos mangroves one of the cityrsquos lifelines ldquoThe youth is the future and art is the tool to create itrdquo shared Nayan Shrimali who is organising the initiative with Vaishali Chudasama Log on to nvillustration to send in your entriesWomen firstSometimes films become a medium of communication that travel across the world Frore a short that deals with the life of a woman married to a farmer in India has made it to the official selection list for Toronto Women International Film Festival in Canada Mumbaikars Vidhatri Bandi in pic and Madhur Mittal who played a leading role in Slumdog Millionaire feature in it This festival recognises the role that women play in the global film industry Bandi told this diarist ldquoItrsquos about a woman who marries and her life changesrdquo to briefly sum the plot up Therersquos more to the narrative but the point of the festival is important mdash women play a leading role in the global film industry Itrsquos high time that we all woke up to that factAnjursquos art in BrusselsAn exhibit from The Tower of Slowness on view at Galerie Templon in BrusselsWhile Mumbai grapples with another lockdown wersquore happy to hear that noted citybased artist Anju Dodiyarsquos works have made their way to Europe after five years The solo Tower of Slowness a series of 20 new watercolours is on view at Galerie Templon in Brussels About the works installed by her through video calls that reflect the present isolationridden times she shared ldquoThe past year has been an unusual one for all of us Suddenly we all share a common wound mdash the painful recognition of the uncertainty of our livesrdquo Our congratulationsMumrsquos the wordHow do we define motherhood as a concept in the 21st century A new book that Meghna Pant is aunching called The Terrible Horrible Very Bad Good News Penguim random House India tries to question whether being a mother necessarily entails tying the conjugal knot or not or if being a single mother leads to inevitable loneliness or what sort of lsquobodyrsquo a woman who has given birth is supposed to have Child birth isnrsquot a walk in the park But it can also be a fulfilling emotion Read the book to know moreMental health is real wealthThe physical ramifications of the pandemic have been documented in numbers We see figures of cases and deaths that are recorded every day But there are mental health issues that are not as quantifiable What sort of implications does sustained isolation bring about How has the pandemic rewired our brains Organisations like The Mind Clan are trying to answer these questions Itrsquos built a curated list of inclusive support groups therapists and other such resources from across India that aim to help people in need of succour The Mind Clan has just won The Laureate 2021 Community Award for Technology conferred by The world Happiness Foundation which aims to provide inclusive access to people in the fields of technology research and policymaking among other allied fields ldquoWe have always believed that technology can be used to provide free access to inclusive mentalhealth providers in India This award is a testament to that at a global level as wellrdquo shared Mani Kumar in pic cofounder of The Mind Clan Letrsquos come back to the main point though Physical health is one thing Mental health is another Both need to be addressed at a time when the human population is vulnerable to either