Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Hear HearA streetside ear cleaner attends to a kulfiwala at Dadar Chowpattymdashthe better to hear you with when you call out to him perhapsPut the sunshine in an Indian SummerItrsquos going to be an Indian Summer at Goranrsquos Spring Croatia We learn that India is the featured country at the 62nd edition of Goranovo Proljee the annual poetry manifestation in Croatia The festival will take place between March 20 and 23 in Croatian capital Zagreb Lukovdol the birthplace of Ivan Goran Kovai as well as the coastal city of Rijeka and the Istria region Festival director Marko Pogaar informs us that the manifestation is named after and dedicated to Kovai a famous Croatian poet who lost his life during World War II as a partisan antifascist fighterMustansir Dalvi FILE PICSATEJ SHINDEEvery year the festival has one country or one language in focus and in 2025 for the first time the focus country is India The five featured poets are Mustansir Dalvi who also translates from Marathi and Urdu Manya Joshi Sanjeev Khandekar Hemant Divate who also translates from English and Sampurna Chatterji who also translates from Bangla and Hindi Mumbairsquos Dalvi poet and translator said he will be reading several poems there one of which is Rivers Wanted Some lines from his poem read lsquoA trickle will do A slither leaving infinity tracks like a sidewinder on a sand dunersquoAccording to the Poetrywala Foundation from Mumbai this is a ldquocontinuation of the Foundationrsquos ongoing mission to build bridges through the shared language of poetryrdquo If poetry be the glue in a world roiled by conflict we say more power to the lsquowritersquowing poetry partyMitchell Marsh and Imran Khanrsquos lsquopurersquo challengeAustraliarsquos T20 cricket captain Mitchell Marsh is an allrounder who would be an asset to any side in the short forms of the game Though a back injury forced him to miss the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy Marsh the brother of Shaun and son of former Australia batsman and coach Geoff will figure for Lucknow Super Giants in the forthcoming Indian Premier League as a batsman aloneImran Khan right Mitchell Marsh PICSGETTY IMAGESThis diarist immediately thought about Imran Khan who led Pakistan in the last two Tests of the 198384 series in Australia and played purely as a batsman due to a leg injury In his first Test of the seriesmdashat MelbournemdashImran defied Dennis Lillee amp Co to score a gritty 83 in a 233minute stay at the crease for Pakistan to score 470In the second innings he spent almost the same amount of time for Pakistanrsquos topscore 70 not out in the drawn Test The next game at Sydney was where Greg Chappell Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh bid Test cricket goodbye As for Imran he continued fighting injuries to take Pakistan to new heights And yes he started bowling again to add 130 Test scalps to his then 232 But he never felt as nervous as he did in Melbourne on December 26 1983 when the Test match commencedWestwood comes EastDame Vivienne Westwood PicGetty ImagesAfter Dior itrsquos time for Vivienne Westwood The iconic fashion house will host their firstever fashion show in India on April 1 at the Gateway of India In partnership with the Maharashtra government and Vivz Fashion School it aims to celebrate Indian textiles and will present a collection of Vivienne Westwood couture looks created with natural handwoven fabrics by artisans using traditional and sustainable techniques Pop culture addicts will remember the Westwood wedding dress Carrie Bradshaw wears in Sex in the City We can hardly waitA strapping showCeciliarsquoed by Indu Antony part of the exhibit Pic courtesyApre Art HouseYour bra strap is showingrdquo Which woman hasnrsquot grown up hearing and being incensed by these words Turning the phrase on its very head is a new multiartist exhibition at Apre Art House entitled My Peeking Red Bra Strap The show featuring work by 15 artists from across the country critiques control over the female body using the bra strap as a metaphor for resistance The admonition to ldquohide your bra straprdquo reflects the deeplyrooted patriarchy in Indian society creating a narrative of shame around womenrsquos bodies much like it is done with the taboo around menstruation Here though the bra strap becomes a subversive metaphor In a tongueincheek moment during the opening night the gallery in collaboration with The Label Life also gifted custommade red bra straps to attendees to ldquoassert that what is often hiddenmdashwhether bra straps desires or voicesmdashholds the power to disrupt resist and redefinerdquo says Prerna Jain Founder Apre Art HouseNever forgetA photograph by Ashesh Shah of midday featured in the exhibition taken during an army flag march near Worli gaon areaThe Mumbai Press Club is exhibiting powerful photographs that documented the riots and bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993 Chairman of the exhibition Rajesh Mascarenhas says ldquoItrsquos our way of tipping our hat to those brave media personnelrdquo The exhibition named FortyFour Thousand Words started yesterday and will be open to the public until April 30 at the Mumbai Press Club on Mahapalika Marg