Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Giddy UpA flash of rain didnrsquot deter this horserider at the Mahalaxmi Race CourseWhen Mumbai cricketers tired out the Grey KangaroosOur inhouse cricket nut stumbled upon a piece of local cricket nostalgia in an Australian publication In 1982 the Grey Kangaroos club from Down Under undertook a tour of India and played matches in Mumbai Chennai Bangalore Hyderabad Udaipur and Jaipur and the writer in the team Jack Egan penned a piece under the headline Flat Tracks and Old Bones in the now defunct World Cricket Digest In Mumbai they played three games heremdashagainst CCI and Nirlon at Islam Gymkhana while Bombay Gymkhana were tackled on their home turfRakesh Tandon the scourge of the visiting Australians PICMIDDAY ARCHIVESEgan described his visit to the CCI like this ldquoRelaxing quietly at the Brabourne Stadium home of the Cricket Club of India sitting out on the oval on cane chairs at cane tables drinking tea or beer or eating Charlie Chaplins ldquoAt one end of the table Raj Singh Dungarpur is holding court At the other Milind Rege is discussing with us plans for the coming CCI tour of Australia Forty yards away Ravi Shastri and Karsan Ghavri are bowling to Sunil Gavaskar in the netsrdquoNow to the matches CCI comprehensively beat the visitors by 88 runs thanks to 62 each by Hemant Kenkre and Rakesh Tandon Darshak Mehta who later made Australia his home chimed in with an unbeaten halfcentury as MAK Pataudi came on as umpire for a few oversBombay Gymkhana beat the Aussies too with a batsman called Sanjay Kholi getting 105 ExTest player Hanumant Singh ldquoadded a touch of classrdquo as a guest player for the visitors His 48 went in vain Nirlon were victors too through Tandonrsquos 145 So whatrsquos the story behind the headline Three overs into this game the Grey Kangaroos skipper asked his medium pacer how he was going And the captain got this as an answer ldquoFlat tracks and old bonesrdquoBowing down to pop cultureAll the controversy aside NCP leader Nawab Malik is known for his timing when it comes to quoting shayari on his Twitter page When his faceoff against the Narcotics Control Bureau began his pinned tweet for the longest time was lsquoIdhar aa sitamgar hunar aazmayein tu teer aazma hum jigar aazmaeyein Come tyrant letrsquos test our skills you test your weapons Irsquoll test my fortitude On February 23 last yearmdashthe day he was arrestedmdashit was changed to ldquoKuch hi der ki khamoshi hai phir shor aayega tumhara toh sirf waqt hai hamara daur aayega The noise will resume after a short silence the time may be yours but the era will be mine When he finally got bail on Friday many were left with mixed emotions at his tweet a generic and overused line from 2021hit Pushpa lsquoMai jhukega nahi I wonrsquot bow downrsquo Are we losing one more classicslover to popular culture We surely hope notReinventing the classicsAt all of 17 years old musician Riddhi Vikamshi just made her hometown proud with the release of her debut single Suno Morey Mohan The single mixes traditional violin pieces flute melodies and tabla rhythms with electronic elements creating a fusion between contemporary music and the staple soundscapes of the Hindustani classical genre The Nagpurbased musician tells this diarist ldquoI have been singing Hindustani classical music since I was four years old and first became interested in producing music with my laptop three years ago I wanted this single to display the authentic sounds of each genrerdquo Vikamshi who recently received her acceptance to Berklee College of Music in Boston wants to bring Indian music to a global audience while also embracing new trends in music ldquoBerklee brings independent artists from across the globe together making it an ideal place for merdquo she saysCookieing up some loveSwing by the IC Colonyrsquos main road in Borivli after 530 pm and yoursquoll see a sweet new addition to the throng of bustling momo outlets pani puri stalls and biryani joints A cookie stall stands amidst the bustle helmed by professional chef Neelangi Mehta and her sister Payal Mehta started her stall to serve up the ldquoreal tasterdquo of cookies to her customers ldquoWhat people donrsquot know is that a cookie and a biscuit are actually very differentrdquo she explains ldquoWhat we get in the market is just biscuits passed off as cookiesrdquo Mehta started her business to show people the joy of consuming authentic cookies in flavours such as blueberry crumble vanilla chocochunks chocolate and walnut and ragi wheat and glutenfree versions for the health freaks Next shersquos aiming to put out homemade jams under her greenandblue umbrella We canrsquot wait to have a tasteRunning on a virtual trackPIC COURTESYTATA MUMBAI MARATHONThey say there is something about being at the right place at the right time but how about being at any place and that is the right time The Tata Mumbai Marathon TMM in January next year has already opened registrations for different categories Those who cannot make it to the city for the race can run virtually too be it the full 42 km the half 21 km the shorter 10 km or the even shorter 5 km Dream Run Virtual running is catching up with the physical world everywhere and why not Remember Indian origin astronaut Sunita Williams who ran the Boston Marathon 2007 at the International Space Station ISS in orbit Williams was tethered on to a treadmill as she ran and reports said her fellow crew members cheered her on and gave her a supply of oranges Space or any placemdashnew world running is all about not been there but done that