Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Flight or fightA pretty flock of seagulls surround a man feeding them As we take pictures of this Instagramworthy moment we would like to caution against feeding as birds flocking so close to the promenade often leads to bird hits and accidentsLike Nick Nastase was nasty tooRomanian tennis player Ilie Nastase in action against American Cliff Richey at Wimbledon in 1970 PicGetty ImagesAustralian Nick Kyrgios has probably no close rivals when it comes to being the bad boy of contemporary tennis A recent report said 95 per cent of the headlines he makes are about his offensive behaviour Only five per cent screamers concern his game Arguing with officials seems to come naturally to him insulting spectators too Romanian Illie Nastase was also a temperamental tennis player who figured in major pro tennis tournaments from the late 1960s to the 1980sNick KyrgiosKyrgiosrsquos antics are reminiscent of what Nastase was up to But we stumbled upon something that Nstase did which could be unprecedented The 1983 edition of Sportsweek Annual reported that Nastase was fined 1000 for untying a chair umpirersquos shoelaces as he walked passed him during the 1982 French Open This could well have been during his second round defeat to Guy Forget at Paris Now that is so naughty and hopefully the Australian brat doesnrsquot read thisBedi to tell it allActor Kabir Bedi is all set to release his tellall autobiography in April this year Published by Westland Publications Stories I Must Tell The Emotional Journey Of An Actor will see Bedi take readers through the journey of his lifemdashfrom growing up in a middleclass home in Delhi to the highs and lows of his professional and personal life including marriage and divorce and his days in film television and theatre in India Europe and Hollywood ldquoIrsquove poured my heart into this book about my turbulent professional and emotional life and I have told it with raw honestyrdquo shared Bedi Karthika VK publisher Westland Publications has described his memoir as ldquounusually candid with unexpected tragic turnsrdquo ldquoI think it will surprise even those who know Kabir wellrdquo she told this diaristLaugh and live a littleLast year has been nothing short of a nightmare but the COVID19 pandemic has definitely made us stronger and more content with the little things in life Members of the St Andrews Road Residents Association want to remember the year 2020 in the form of limericks The group plans to organise a laughter limerick contest for the residents with each verse beginning with lsquoCOVID19 has taught mersquo John Soares one of the organisers of the event says ldquoResidents have not been able to freely meet for a long time And we think laughter is the best way to forget the Coronavirus crisis The idea is to cheer up the security staff and the housekeeping staff through these contestsrdquoPlay a game save the worldInspired by games like Pokemon Go Tamagotchi and Farmville Wildchain a nonprofit organisation is aiming to use gamification to build awareness by educating users about various endangered species they discover in the game The mission is to preserve all wildlife on earthmdashonline actions with offline impact Kiki a marketing manager from Wildchain says ldquoOur players will get a free magic egg for them to hatch After hatching the players have to grow their sanctuary and take care of it by cleaning and protecting their sanctuary Users will be able to digitally adopt a range of wild animals with the funds they pay going towards nature conservation and wildlife protection projects A 100 per cent of our profit will go towards wildlife conservation initiative to support wildlife rangers protect wildlife habitats plant trees and create employment for villagers So the players can make a realworld impact while playing Wildchainrdquo This game will be available to Android and iOS users However the beta version of this game that is launching on World Environment Day June 5 this year will be available on Google Play firstBillboard with a differenceIn a refreshing change from glitzy hoardings featuring models and actors Mumbaikars will get to see their furry fourlegged friends gracing them instead This is part of a new initiative titled All Species Alike which was formed to address the problem of speciesism which is the misguided belief that some living beings are more important than othersldquoThere was no greater evidence of this than during the Coronavirus pandemic when animals were abandoned and exploited in unprecedented numbers and there was the need for common citizens to come together to be the voice for the voicelessrdquo says restaurateur Marzy Parakh who is helming it along with animal activist and professor Poonam Samtani