Fast bowlers won&rsquo;t listen to Olympians In the build-up to the Rio Games, it&rsquo;s time for an Olympics-related yarn. Fred Trueman, the former England fast bowler, who was never short of a word, didn&rsquo;t quite agree with his then captain Ted Dexter&rsquo;s decision to rope in British long distance Olympic runner Gordon Pirie as a trainer in England&rsquo;s touring party for the 1962-63 Ashes in Australia.
<img title="Fred Trueman" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/Fred-Trueman.jpg" alt="Fred Trueman" /> Fred Trueman
Pirie participated in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics at Melbourne and Rome respectively and recommended that Trueman be put on a diet of nuts and lettuce instead of Trueman&rsquo;s favourite steaks.
Pirie also ordered the fast bowlers to run up and down on the wooden decks of the ship en route to Australia. This wouldn&rsquo;t have done Trueman&rsquo;s knees any good and so he protested. When things reached boiling point, &lsquo;Fiery Fred&rsquo; as Trueman was called, asked Pirie whether he had run against someone called Vladimir Kuts (Russia). When Pirie answered in the affirmative, Trueman shot back, &ldquo;Yes and if I remember rightly he was doing his lap of honour before you had crossed the finishing line, so if that&rsquo;s what your training does for you, then you can count me out.&rdquo;
Trueman was referring to how Kuts had led favourite Pirie by a huge margin and clinched the 10,000m gold at Melbourne.
Read like Rajini When Rajinikanth&rsquo;s fans made a dash for the theatre to watch Kabali on Friday, none of them had any plans to head to the bookstore soon after. But, that&rsquo;s what happens when Thalaiva picks up a book. You buy it too!
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/My-father-Baliah.jpg" alt="" />
In the opening scene of Kabali, an incarcerated Rajini is seen reading author YB Satyanarayana&rsquo;s My Father Baliah inside his prison cell. The book, published in 2012, traces Satyanarayana&rsquo;s Dalit family history. Now, four years on, it&rsquo;s making news all over again.
And, trust Rajini devotees to leave no stone unturned to ensure the book is read. Twitter is abuzz with stories about what Rajini is reading in jail and thanks, to the many re-tweets, the author&rsquo;s promotion appears to be on in full swing. Satyanarayana wouldn&rsquo;t have predicted this accidental stroke of luck, which in all likelihood is boosting his book&rsquo;s sales. Writers of the world, please take note: Thalaiva is your man!
Do a burpee While most of us are battling the bulge thanks to unhealthy lifestyles, former Indian pace bowler Zaheer Khan is bent on reversing the trend. After launching the ProSport Fitness centre in Lower Parel, he has now opened a new franchise in Andheri.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/Zaheer-Khan.jpg" alt="" />
&ldquo;While trying to balance professional and personal life, fitness often takes a backseat,&rdquo; says Khan, who has designed some fun workouts like burpees (squat thrusts) and shadow boxing at the centre. Khan assures us that the exercises can be pulled off by people of any age. Get, set, fit!
Throwback to the disco era Restaurateur Nityanand Shetty, owner of the soon-to-be-launched all-day bar, Thyme Bistro, takes pride in calling himself a Pancham Pagal. This incidentally happens to be the name of RD Burman&rsquo;s fan club.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/Nityanand-Shetty.jpg" alt="" />
&ldquo;I even wooed my wife with his songs,&rdquo; laughs Shetty, who each year on Burman&rsquo;s birthday distributes the composer&rsquo;s favourite Kesar Pista ice cream from Gokul for free to all his customers at Pebbles, Juhu. The 48-year-old now plans to take his love a step further by introducing Pancham nights every month at Thyme.
The evening will see talented musicians paying tribute to the legend. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll also have a Pancham quiz for the patrons,&rdquo; he adds. Attend it, if you happen to be Pancham Pagal.
A report card for artists? The Union Minister of culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma certainly managed to raise eyebrows with his proposal to introduce a rate card for artists and writers. Promising, Outstanding and Waiting are the grades on offer, which got trolled as the POW system.
<img title="Union Minister of culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/Mahesh-Sharma.jpg" alt="Union Minister of culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma" /> Union Minister of culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma
While there were those who hinted at how some moolah might get you bumped up from Waiting to Outstanding, a rather acclaimed photographer, chose to use some tact regarding this. Here&rsquo;s what he wrote: &ldquo;So, here&rsquo;s the new India art lingo: A couple of well-heeled collectors walk into an Indian Art Gallery. &lsquo;Please, we are looking to buy some P Grade art.&rsquo;
The gallerist looked puzzled, &lsquo;Why P Grade?&rsquo; The collectors respond, &lsquo;Because we hope our P Grade investments will mature into O Grade! And please don&rsquo;t waste our time showing us any of that horrible W Grade stuff.&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh&rsquo;, the gallerist responds, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t worry! We would never think to show W Grade art here! Only P and O need apply!&rsquo;&rdquo; Well, isn&rsquo;t this true of things, with or without a rate card?
Mom knows best
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jul/Tanishaa-Mukerji.jpg" alt="" /> Pic/Bipin Kokate
Tanishaa Mukerji seems to be sharing a juicy secret with her mother, yesteryear actress Tanuja, at an event held at a South Mumbai five-star on Saturday evening.

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The city &mdash; sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

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