Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Mumbairsquos real mardanisA lady police personnel gives an interview for the Mumbai Police Twitter handle at Carter Road as part of an initiative to felicitate the cityrsquos policewomen ahead of Womenrsquos DaySRKrsquos female fans and their many strugglesNext year will mark 30 years since Shah Rukh Khan made his foray into the Hindi film industry Close on the heels of the milestone a New Delhibased economist Shrayana Bhattacharya will be releasing Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh HarperCollins India which is about the actor and yet not Bhattacharya will use the Shah Rukh Khan fandom to explore the struggles of Indian women The stories will illustrate how the Bollywood superstarrsquos films songs interviews and charactersmdashthe stalkers and the lovers alikemdashspurred a feminine conversation on inequality within families workplaces and modern romances ldquoSince 2006 Irsquove met and interviewed working women This introduced me to Shah Rukh fangirls from diverse communities and taught me more about womenrsquos experiences of the economyrdquo shares the authorTo the one who got awayAfter launching HealthifyMe a health and fitness app its founder and CEO Tushar Vashisht will foray into music with a Hindi single titled Kahaani The song which launches today will mark the beginning of a string of releases set for this year Kahani is jointly composed produced and arranged by Vashist and guitarist and bassist Raghu Ramasubramanian ldquoKahani is part of an EP that Irsquom working on The song is about love lost and found Itrsquos about the one who got away and the one who didnrsquot In the short life we have each one of us has a story to tellmdashall of us have a tryst with lovemdashsome stay unrequited while others get lucky This song is about that story of love nostalgia and hopeRaise a toast to Nari Contractor todayFormer cricketer Nari Contractor at his Cusrow Baug residence in Colaba PicSuresh KarkeraNari Contractor turns 87 today And although Indiarsquos oldest living Mumbaibased Test captain wonrsquot encourage any fuss over his birthday he needs to be celebrated His contribution to Indian cricket goes beyond the grit and determination he exhibited as a batsman By the way when he carried on batting despite breaking two ribs in the Lordrsquos Test of 1959 Keith Miller the legendary Australian cricketer wrote that he deserved the Victoria Cross for his bravery against pacers Fred Trueman and Brian Statham Contractor it shouldnrsquot be forgotten captained India to its firstever series winmdash against Ted Dexterrsquos MCCmdashin 196162 A little over 30 years later he got involved in a fast bowlers scheme in Mumbai followed by the BCCIrsquos talent spotting programme Live it up NariTeen helps tennis ball boysAditya Iyer a Class 10 student from Dhirubhai Ambani International School is organising a tennis tournament for ball boys at Tuff Tennis Academy Juhu on today under the aegis of Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association Iyer has been wanting to provide a platform for ball boys who come from economically challenged backgrounds and hopes to support their families With a determination to make a change within 14 days he raised Rs 20000 as prize money for the participants Iyer tells us ldquoI have been playing tennis since I was seven years old and it has been an integral part of my growing years One of the important but overlooked part of the tennis coaching ecosystem are these ball boys They do all the sundry work on courts so that the matches and practice sessions are smooth for the players I discussed this with my parents and thought of initiating something small and immediate to bring back some enthusiasm to motivate them and to take the sport more seriously to improve their livelihoodsrdquoAditya has been raising money on the crowdfunding website Impact GuruBuilding period positive homesNavya Naveli Nanda is setting millennial goals Project Naveli started by her to work in the sphere of women empowerment and gender inclusion has joined hands with Punebased NGO Mukul Madhav Foundation for a great cause The two organisations will be constructing safer resting homes for menstruating women in Gadchiroli This unique campaign helmed by Schbang for Good also aims to install sewing kits in these homes so these tribal women can make ecofriendly sanitary towels Speaking to this diarist Nanda says ldquoFor far too long women from the Gond tribe of Gadchiroli have been at the receiving end of discrimination abandonment and pain These period huts not only threaten their physical wellbeing but also their safety and dignity As we celebrate Womenrsquos Day in 2021 we canrsquot leave behind these women fighting for the basics Therefore we are coming together with Mukul Madhav Foundation to build period positive homes which would replace what is locally called a Goakarrdquo