Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Jaane bhi do yaaronTwo tired workers take a muchneeded nap in a tempo on the Eastern Express Highway MulundMustard upA stoneground mustard made by Ruchira Sonalkar founder of Native Tongue a homegrown condiment brand has made it to the top five at the Worldwide Mustard Competition 2021 hosted by the National Mustard Museum Wisconsin ldquoWe drew inspiration from the classic Bengali relish made of coarsely ground mustard seeds and aam kashundirdquo says Sonalkar She used two varieties of mustard seeds yellow and black that are broken down using a traditional stone grinder What takes it a few notches up is the amba halad or mango ginger a seasonal rhizome that mimics the flavour of green mangoes ldquoIt allows the core ingredient to shine by mellowing the pungency of the mustard By creating a nuanced mustard blend we were playing to our strengths and thus felt confident about our entryrdquoA case of selective selection for Sri LankaBishan Singh Bedi led India against Sri Lanka in 197576 PicGetty ImagesThe other day former captain Arjuna Ranatunga lashed out at the Sri Lankan cricket board for putting financial gains before a wholesome cricket fare by agreeing to host what he believed is a second string Indian team which will play a series of limited overs matches With second string coming into focus now that Ranatunga has said what he wanted to say our inhouse cricket nut brought up Sri Lankarsquos 197576 tour of India in which they played three unofficial Tests five games with the zones and one fixture against the Indian Universities Sri Lanka were then six seasons away from their Test debut and the BCCI decided to spread their best players across the three lsquoTestsrsquo with Bishan Singh Bedi leading the side in all of them According to the late statistician Anandji Dossa in Cricket Quarterly magazine India played three wicketkeepers in the seriesmdashSyed Kirmani P Krishnamurthy and Bharath Reddy There were three sets of opening batsmenmdashSunil GavaskarDilip Vengsarkar Chetan ChauhanAnshuman Gaekwad and Parthasarathy SharmaGopal Bose S Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath opened the bowling in the first Test at Hyderabad before Amarnath and S Abid Ali kicked things off in Game 2 at Ahmedabad Domestic toiler Barun Burman and Eknath Solkar were in charge of the new ball in the final Test at Nagpur The islanders lost two lsquoTestsrsquo but who can say they didnrsquot gain from the exposure by playing a belowstrength Indian teamWhen a love for baked goodies helps societyNearly two months ago author and culinary consultant Saee KoranneKhandekar put together an ebook From My Oven comprising a lovely collection of bakes for a fundraiser for Snehalaya India an NGO based out of Ahmednagar which among other issues has been working for treatment and rehabilitation of those affected by the pandemic in the district Her tiny effort reaped big rewards when she managed to raise Rs 1263611 from the sale of the book The fund is now not just being used for for Covid relief but also for a water project A 60feet well will provide water to a centre for psychological research treatment and rehabilitation for mental illnesses and de addiction called Manasgram being erected under the aegis of the NGO ldquoTherersquos only so much one can do as an individual so a fundraiser seemed like a good idea to form a collective of sorts I set out with a target of Rs 3 lakh but was pleasantly surprised that we managed to raise four times as much I have followed Snehalayarsquos work for many years and knew that they are a deserving organisationrdquo Khandekar told this diaristThis DJ has got some love songs up his sleeveItrsquos a good time for Zaeden fans The 26yearold singer released his debut album on July 2 to celebrate his birthday A mix of pop dance and hiphop the albums also sees him collaborating with various artistes The entire album was conceptualised and produced remotely in the middle of the pandemic ldquoGenesis 11 has been both a liberating and intimidating experience for me because itrsquos a heartfelt project as all the songs journal my reallife journey The word genesis in its literal sense means the birth of something novel Itrsquos the perfect analogy for my career and explains my evolution from DJ producer to singersongwriter All this while through the transition Irsquove come to rediscover myself as an artist and I couldnrsquot think of a better word than Genesis to describe the birth of my new soundrdquo he told this diarist adding that he wanted to put out an album that was therapeutic and comforting in these turbulent times We think the singerrsquos honeyed vocals will help you get over a heartbreak as wellMusic to the rescueIn order to support Indiarsquos urgent vaccination drive the Anuradha Palakurthi Foundation has announced VaxIndiaNowmdasha virtual music concert to be held on July 7 The concert will feature Gloria Estefan Sting Andrea Bocelli Josh Groban YoYo Ma David Foster Norwegian DJ Alan Walker Aasif Mandvi Nishat Khan Ranjani Gayatri Sisters Matteo Bocelli and Anuradha Juju Palakurthi Speaking to this diarist Palakurthi said ldquoArtistes have catalysed many social movements by driving participation and awareness The VaxIndiaNow team is honoured to count some of the biggest hearts for support Scientists estimate that Indian herd immunity kicks in with 600 million more adult vaccinations India has already demonstrated that it has the capacity to vaccinate 10m people a day The event is one of the many steps being taken worldwide by many organisations and individualsrdquo