Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

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

Paws-e in play

A dog takes a nap alongside people sheltering from the rain at Bandstand in Bandra.

A cafe meets a book club

The book exchange shelf at the cafe; (right) Jackson Jacob

While most cafes are filled with conversations, the Sailor’s Cafe down in Belapur is trying to start one. “We have a permanent book exchange club open at the cafe,” says co-founder Jackson Jacob. The book club is an attempt to nurture a reading culture in the neighbourhood, Jacob added. “The cafe has a regular crowd of young and old customers, and we felt that it would create a reading community. You can simply walk in, take a book, and in turn, leave another for someone else to pick up. There are also books for sale. In fact, we won’t even force you to buy a coffee to look at our books,” the co-founder joked. 

We like Vicky’s cool moves

Vicky Kaushal in the animation video. Pic Courtesy/@pranj_jelly

If you’ve watched several tutorial videos to learn the complicated dance steps performed by Vicky Kaushal in the latest viral song Tauba tauba from the movie Bad Newz, and managed to get your legs twisted in awkward movements, you are not alone. When artist Pranjali Anaji Chavan saw the dance steps, she instantly realised that it was not for her. “I watched the video and was stunned by Vicky Kaushal’s performance. I cannot dance like he did. But since many people are trying to, I decided to hop on to the trend in my own way — I made an animation video,” she shared. Made of 480 frames, the 20-second-long video took nearly 15 days to create and perfect all of Kaushal’s moves, features and expression. “This one was more challenging than my previous animation videos because it has 24 frames per second. To add to it, I had to draw, paint, and add details all over again to the 480 frames multiple times. I was working on this for six to seven hours daily, alongside managing my full-time job,” she added.

Pranjali Anaji Chavan

Making every drop count

Medical officers attend to mid-day’s donors at the campaign. Pic/Anurag Ahire

To celebrate mid-day’s 45th anniversary, the newspaper collaborated with Indian Red Cross Society Blood Centre (IRCS), where it urged its employees to donate blood for a social cause. With over 50 employees showing up to do their bit, the day-long initiative was full of positivity and good intent. We waited patiently for our turn, and were checked for medical history by experts, before the drive kickstarted in a sanitised environment. The process, a colleague shared, was quick and simple. “The purpose was to begin our celebrations by contributing towards the community, and help those in need. The camp was hosted efficiently, thanks to our collaboration with IRCS. We look forward to hosting similar camps in the future. Who doesn’t want to contribute to a cause?” a representative from mid-day’s Human Resource department told this diarist. 

A big win for childhood dreams

Medical officers attend to mid-day’s donors at the campaign. Pic/Anurag Ahire; (right) Canato Jimo

For Bengaluru-based illustrator, Canato Jimo (inset), the month comes with good tidings. Jimo’s work on the book, Afo and I (Pratham Books) has been awarded the third Mehlli Gobhai children’s book illustrator award. “It is a big surprise, and I am very honoured,” Jimo shared. Describing his book, Jimo remarked, “I am from Nagaland. Afo and I came from a personal space of storytelling about change, elements of migration and a sense of longing.” The award will be presented to the illustrator at an event in Mumbai in September. 

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