Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

A star is bornA canine enjoying a drive at Nariman Point redefines lsquohead turnerrsquo as a taxi driver does the double takeDonrsquot say we didnrsquot Vaughan youMichael Vaughan the former England cricket captain is playing true to form By that we mean his sweeping illogical statements and the wrath he is facing for them Remember how cricketerturnedTV pundit Vaughan said that India would lose the Test series in Australia 04 if they lost the pinkball opening Test at Adelaide He also made some caustic comments on the pitches that were dished out for the India v England Test series giving the impression that it is not cricket when the ball turns More recently he suggested that England pacer Jofra Archer doesnrsquot care enough about Test cricket Archer hooked Vaughanrsquos comments for a six the other day and while we donrsquot think that will stop the Yorkshireman from continuing to talk ruuuubish thatrsquos how they pronounce rubbish in Yorkshire we fear that he will only be viewed as a loose cannon and not the captain who led England to their first Ashes victory in 2005 after 18 years Think about it VaughanSpreading hope with quilts that speakCorona Quilt Projectrsquos art installation at the BMC school Worli Seaface PicPradeep DhivarSince early last week the Corona Quilt Project CQP has been presenting a diverse array of installations by Dia Mehhta Bhupal a MumbaiHyderabadbased interdisciplinary artist throughout the city After showcasing A Rising Sun at Jindal Mansion Bhupal and the CQP team unveiled three other installations on Saturday Warriors Rise which is a montage of portraits at Haji Ali Pumping Station Live to Rise which has been wrapped around 23 BEST buses on routes from Worli to Colaba and On the Rise that can be seen on the facade of a BMC school at Worli SeafaceThe latter draws a parallel to the butterflymdasha symbol of transformation evolution and resurrection Speaking about why they chose to have the installation at the school Neha Modi founder of the project said ldquoThroughout this project the squares received by school children have been the most rewarding We were fortunate to get the BMC School at Worli Seafacemdashpositioned on the sea frontmdashto display our quiltrdquoYeoor tribals show the wayA snake rescued by the tribalsA recent social media post by RAWW Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare titled lsquoFrom kill to rescuersquo caught our attention It talked about how tribal residents of Ronchapada Yeoor have become active responders to reptiles in distress Incidentally that wasnrsquot always the case Till a few years ago snakes which were regularly sighted given the proximity to SGNP were killed at sight out of sheer fearPawan Sharma has been rescuing reptiles for ten yearsA dogged awareness campaign by the NGO has led to the turnaround ldquoSnakes are one of the most misunderstood species globally Tribals are closer to wildlife than us and providing them with the right information and awareness has led to this change Moreover with increase in wildlife conservation activities and with efforts of NGOs the forest department and other stakeholders people are getting better at understanding wildliferdquo says founder Pawan SharmaSongs of two nationsIN an exciting new collaboration the Queacutebec Government Office in Mumbai held a concert of Queacutebec and Maharashtra songs last week lsquoSymphonie croiseacutee queacutebeacutecoise et marathersquo is an innovative concert of Quebec and Marathi songs it is a crossover of the tradition of these provinces which are located in two different geographies of the world Speaking to this diarist Consul and Director Queacutebec Government Office in Mumbai Francis Paradis said ldquoIn Queacutebec we have a tradition of narrating lives of historical personalities events or establishment of cities in a song This is reflected in the Powada tradition of Maharashtra The spirit of these songs is the same yet the music is quite different The Queacutebec songs are like a smooth flowing river while a Powada is similar to a resonating sound of the waterfallrdquoNot a flying dosa anymoreBalaji Dosa Factory in Kalbadevi which had been making headlines for its famous ldquoflying dosasrdquo are not serving them anymore Since this unique serving style has grabbed a lot of attention and crowding at the stall the BMC and the police have asked him to serve dosas just like any other dosawala keeping the COVID19 situation in mind Shiva is a dosa maker who had mastered the art of tossing the dosas in to the air and straight in the customerrsquos plate Hence the name The assistants were always alert and ready to catch these flying dosas in a plate The owner of the shop said ldquoIt has been years since my shop has functioned here but since Shiva joined and started serving flying dosas my clientele has increased by 25 per cent People are very fond of this way of serving dosa But I guess this was short lived We understand and respect the decision of the authorities and have therefore decided to stop serving flying dosasrdquo The dosas may not be flying anymore but they are delicious nevertheless