Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Fit in the forestYoungsters taking their exercise routine seriously in Aarey ColonyWho will be ace of clubs at MahjongBombay Gymkhana president Sanjiv Saran Mehra with the Mahjong team representativesThe great Mahjong wave has now acquired tsunamiesque proportions sweeping over clubs especially in South Mumbai This game played with tiles which now sees waiting lists for top coaches etc is in boomtown mode Many South Mumbai clubs have Mahjong tables teachers dedicated time slots etc for the game Now the Bombay Gymkhana at Fort opposite Fashion Street is all set to host the 1st Bombay Gymkhana InterClub Mahjong Tournament on Wednesday August 20 Participating clubs are Bombay Gymkhana the host with the most the Cricket Club of India CCI Willingdon Sports Club and the Woodhouse Gymkhana There are glittering trophies for the same and these were unveiled recently by Bombay Gymkhana president Sanjiv Saran Mehra As the great Mahjong phrase goes ldquoLet the tiles fall where they mayrdquoThe sound of UPDhruv Ghanekar who has composed the justreleased track Dear Country for the film NishaanchiAnurag Kashyaprsquos new film Nishaanchi will hit our OTT screens soon Itrsquos going to be a slice of Uttar Pradesh but the soundtrack is composed by Mumbai boy Dhruv Ghanekar An acclaimed composer producer and guitarist Ghanekar is known to blend Indian forms with global sensibilities So echoing the rusticurban mood for the film wasnrsquot hard The five original tracks draw from the streets and sounds of UP complete with brokenEnglish lyricism and unpredictable rhythms All we know is that it aligns with Kashyaprsquos raw irreverent storytelling Speaking about composing for Nishaanchi Ghanekar says ldquoFor the number Dear Country the idea was simple Make something that smells of UP the moment you hear it You know that rusticurban mix you get when a dholak meets a loudspeaker at a political rally We started with a sound that feels extremely traditional and then flipped it by throwing in these desi brokenEnglish lyrics the kind you hear in small towns straight from the heart grammar be damnedrdquo Ghanekar says Kashyap gave him complete freedom to create songs that matched the ldquomadness and soul of Nishaanchirsquos scriptrdquo He adds ldquoAnuragrsquos films always have a very distinct sonic identity so I wanted to make something that you havenrsquot heard before in Indian cinemardquoStories of the cityREPRESENTATIONAL PICISTOCKIf all things Mumbai fascinate you find out what cricket maidans railway tracks and historic forts have to do with one another in a panel discussion including rail historian author and senior midday journalist Rajendra B Aklekar and former midday editor and cricket maven Ayaz Memon among others Uncovering Urban Legacies is on August 20 630 pm to 8 pm at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Fort Itrsquos free register at avidlearninginChalo SalonAt the exhibition one can see Pablo Picassorsquos Le gueridon side by side with FN Souzarsquos untitled depiction of a tribal figure Pics courtesyNature MorteImagine art by FN Souza next to Picasso or Renoir next to Tyeb Mehta all together on a gallery wall here in the city Itrsquos a powerful thought one that Colaba gallery Nature Morte has made its mission with its new Salon Series spearheaded by gallerist Devashi Jain The vertical which borrows from the famous Paris Salon will unfold through curated sales salonstyle shows and advisory services with its inaugural exhibition Salon The India Way curated by Poonji NathFeaturing works by Pablo Picasso Alberto Giacometti PierreAuguste Renoir Manjit Bawa Zarina Hashmi Tyeb Mehta and Sadanand Bakre among others the show invites viewers to see modernism as a shared simultaneous movement rather than a oneway inheritance from West to East The gallery on its part is excited to introduce international modern art to the maturing Indian market ldquoFew platforms within India offer consistent access to bluechip international artists This challenges that gap showing that a Pablo Picasso can hang alongside a Bharti Kher in the same homerdquo says JainRanji could bat and win fantasy contests tooBy the time the monsoons bid an allIndia goodbye the domestic wings of Indian cricket will start to fly In other words the Ranji Trophy will be the tasty pie for our domestic cricket toilers Not often do we hear about the man who the trophy is named after mdash KS RanjitsinhjiCB Fry of Sussex illustrated on a cigarette card from 1908Ranji the Indian prince played 15 Tests for England and some pundits reckon his contribution to the development of Indian cricket was too limited for the national championships to be named after him Wersquoll leave that debate for another day Meanwhile our inhouse cricket nut came up with a nugget that underlined Ranjirsquos ability to score big runs In 1980 cricket enthusiast called GJ Dabholkar sent Sportsweek magazine an extract of Sir Learie Constantinersquos book Cricketersrsquo Carnival in which the great West Indian spoke about Ranjirsquos batting greatness Constantine the West Indian cricketing great lawyer thinker and politician wrote ldquoAt the height of his Ranji fame a London newspaper offered pound250 to the reader who could guess the highest scorer of the forthcoming week and name in advance the number of runs he would scoreKS Ranjitsinhji 18721933 who captained Cambridge was a star batsman for Sussex and England PicsGetty ImagesldquoMiss Fry daughter of English cricket legend CB was intrigued by the competition and boldly sent in an entry lsquoRanjitsinhji 178rsquo When Fry met Ranji he told him about it and the Indian Princersquos reply was typical lsquoRight I will see to itrsquo ldquoSussex were playing South Africa that week August 1904 and Ranji scored 178 after which the innings was declared closed by captain Fry There was an amusing sequel Miss Fry received only halfacrown Some 2000 other people had guessed as she did Which just shows you what they thought of Ranji in those daysrdquo For someone who was famous for his leg glance stroke this anecdote was worth our glance much to the delight of our inhouse cricket nut