Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

An orange raincoat an envious gripA little girl swings from the overhead handles in a vacant local just before alighting at Kandivali stationHigh five for women in mythologyFor Mumbai author Koral Dasgupta itrsquos been a bittersweet release of her book Taramdashthe fifth and final instalment in her Sati series which reexamines the portrayal of women in Indian mythology ldquoIrsquove lived a fiveyear dream with this seriesrdquo says Dasgupta whose latest draws from the Ramayana to explore the tale of Tara queen of Kishkindha and wife of monkey king Vali and later his brother Sugriva The book showcases Tararsquos rise from obscurity to a sharp stateswoman in her own rightKoral Dasgupta at a book signingDasguptarsquos Sati series is known for turning the patriarchal interpretation of mythology on its head and giving a strong voice to female characters She also addresses how ideas of feminine ldquopurityrdquo have been misconstrued over the agesThe heroines of each of the five booksmdashAhalya Kunti Draupadi Mandodari and now Taramdashare known as panch kanya renowned for their purity ldquoIn popular narrative however these women do not have just one partner And yet women have been judged harshly for this for centuries So the lsquotraditionalrsquo idea of a womanrsquos purity being related to their virginity or promiscuity is trashrdquo says DasguptaWith Tara she had a novel challenge on her hands ldquoThis is the only book written from animalsrsquo perspective It gave me the scope to understand animalsrsquo sensitivity and also rediscover Vali as a wonderful but misunderstood characterrdquoOh Lordrsquos the heroics of Anderson and AmarnathLast month the world of cricket stayed glued to the action in the West Indies where the T20 World Cup concluded with India winning their second ICC silverware in the shortest form of the game This week cricketkeen eyes turned to Lordrsquos in London where Englandrsquos James lsquoJimmyrsquo Anderson played the last of his 188 Test matchesIndeed he was the toast of the spiritual headquarters of cricket when he walked out to field on Wednesday Lordrsquos has been a great venue for Englandrsquos king of swing who claimed five or more wickets in an innings on seven occasions there A cricket nut we know was hoping for a fairy tale end to Andersonrsquos career in terms of a hattrick something Anderson could not accomplish in his decorated career Had that dream come true it would have been only the second Test hattrick in 140 years at Lordrsquos South Africarsquos Geoff Griffin being the only one to do so in 1960Indiarsquos Lala Amarnath could have bagged one there in 1946 after Englandrsquos Wally Hammond prevented the onthebounce triple strike after Amarnath had sent back the illustrious Len Hutton and Denis Compton in a spell that led to his 5118 albeit for a lost cause Meanwhile letrsquos raise a toast to Anderson No fast bowler has been as enduring in Test cricketWhen Becker visited cricketrsquos spiritual HQsEach year we see photographs of celebrities enjoying the game from the stands at the Wimbledon tennis championships We saw images of cricket icons like Ben Stokes Joe Root and our very own Sachin Tendulkar watching the Championships at SW19 However in 2007 threetime singles champion Boris Becker made it to Lordrsquos Cricket Ground to watch the opening Test match of the India v England Test series This diarist remembers the German great stopping by at the media lounge en route to one of the corporate boxes As expected Becker was surrounded by journalists who wanted to know more about his cricket interests One of them asked him if he would like a glass of red wine He accepted the offer and had a refill Those were the days126yearold Jewish cemetery gets makeoverLodged between the Chinchpokli railway station and the NM Joshi Marg is a 126yearold Jewish cemetery which has recently undergone a restoration The site is a resting place for the Jewish community from Baghdad as well as Holocaust survivors from Germany who found refuge in India en route to China The project led by landscape architect Ayushi Shah marked the first initiative in the cemeteryrsquos history The German government funded 60 per cent of the project that cost of Rs 20 lakhA revamped part of the cemetery PicsAnurag AhireThe rest was financed by the Israeli government ldquoThe Jewish community instructed me not to disturb the sanctity of the graves including preserving the shrubs growing on themrdquo Ayushi explains ldquoThis was a unique challenge for merdquo she added The revamped cemetery now features a new pathway lamp posts and benches Bollard lamps have also been installed in a section of the land parcel to light up the pathThe restoration took around three months ldquoSome civic workers were hesitant to work at the site and left work midway For some these are sacred spaces while for others they are notrdquo the architect says Asif Khan from Bihar who is the caretaker of the space says ldquoIt is my chance to look after the departed who rest here in peace amid all the chaos around in MumbairdquoFlat at Malabar Hill Rs 18 lakhReal estate prices sound right out of Believe it or NotLove it hate it but you cannot ignore it That is social media One of the slices of history doing the WhatsApp rounds are sepiatoned images of Mumbairsquos priciest real estate Malabar Hill These nostalgic nuggets are bit like old song remixes that come alive through a new medium Here there is no remix but the medium is new WhatsApp gives us a look at what Mumbai was half a century ago and the pace of change for the megapolis This particular message calls peoplersquos attention to a 23storeyed skyscraper we call them towers now under construction in the estate of the WIAA club ltd The WIAA is now the Malabar Hill Club The twobedroom flats are at Rs 180000 and three bedroom are at Rs 280000 with a four bedroom duplex flats at Rs 370000 The advertisement besides stating this is Bombayrsquos Most Distinguished New Addresshellip also says that price also includes one covered car parking space