Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

What children wantA kid sitting with his father on a watermelon cart looks eagerly at a balloon seller at Mulund East on WednesdayKonkani notesOrsquoluv Rodrigues at an edition of the festival before the pandemicThe Sao Joao festival is held annually in Goa to celebrate the birthday of St John the Baptist But it also serves as an excuse to celebrate Konkani music since songs in the language are an integral part of the festivities ldquoThe festivalrsquos main song which everybody sings is a Konkani tune that C Alvares composed 80 to 90 years agordquo recalls Goan singer Orsquoluv Rodrigues He will play a virtual set today as part of the 2021 edition of Sao Joao Tune in to the Orsquoluv page on Facebook to get into the moodA table of plentyFather Warner DrsquoSouza centre prepares food packets with volunteersOne of St Stephenrsquos responsibilities according to The Bible was to serve food to widows In the present day the parish priest at the church under his name in Cumbala Hills widened that legacy to carry it forward Father Warner DrsquoSouza started an initiative called St Stephenrsquos Table last week as part of which food is served at the premises thrice a week Benevolent Christians from the area sponsor the dishes though anyone from any community can partake of the fare The menu keeps changing featuring items such as vegetarian biryani and egg curry Not just that church volunteers step outdoors to feed the needy in these difficult times DrsquoSouza added that they also send hampers with gifts such as shrikhand and rasgullas to people who have lost a loved one or a job due to the pandemic Explaining the initiativersquos name DrsquoSouza told this diarist ldquoWhen you say lsquoWelcome to my tablersquo what you mean is that the other person is welcome to share your foodrdquo Thatrsquos a nice thoughtSaved by the ballThe group that walked 40 km in the UKLast week the official Liverpool Supporter Club of Mumbai made sure that relief activities in the city were lent a helping hand during the pandemic With the support of the Liverpool Football Club LFC of the UK and The Anfield Wrap podcast the group conducted a charity walk in the UK to raise funds for Mumbaibased NGO Khaana Chahiye ldquoWersquove been trying to help communities out whenever possible When we reached out to the club with the idea of doing this initiative they were very supportive of it They have a huge global fan base and they helped us put a word out in many regions through their Twitter handlerdquo Simaab Hashmi chairman of LFC Mumbai told us Conducted over nine hours the group covered 40 km and raised nearly 13 lakh to support the NGOrsquos onground activities ldquoAn interesting aspect was that rivalries were kept aside and other clubs reached out to Liverpool FC to amplify their needsrdquo said Neeraj Shetye of Khaana ChahiyeIndian title for kids gets UN nodNearly three years since the Kerala floods wersquore happy to hear that a childrenrsquos title revolving around the calamity Big Rain Tulika Publishers has been selected by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Book Club Penned by Gayathri Bashi and illustrated by TR Rajesh the book was created when the author was trying to explain the phenomenon of the devastating floods in Kerala to her threeyearold recalled senior editor Deeya Nayar ldquoThis news came as a surprise Wersquore heartened to see that the UN is looking out for such books and giving them recognition The book is a lovely way of explaining a natural disaster to kids The illustrations are beautifully done the whole book is awash with shades of rain Therersquos a refrain in the book it starts with lsquolots and lots and lots of rainrsquo and ends with lsquolots and lots and lots of hopersquordquo shared Nayar adding that the title also reminds children to look after our rivers forests and environmentA filmmakerrsquos French connectionA filmmakerrsquos first film always holds special meaning but it gets even more special when the movie gets selected for a highly esteemed international programme for debutant directors from emerging countries aimed at helping them gain a foothold in the international market Thatrsquos what has happened with Mumbaibased Suman Sen and Eka Solo his film that has been selected for La Fabrique Cinema an annual programme based in France that invites 10 directors from across the world to help them gain international exposure Bangladeshbased Goopy Bagha Productions and DW Productions from France are jointly producing the film meaning itrsquos truly an international effort The plot revolves around a man in Kolkata who sees a huge underconstruction statue on his way to work every day That statue is supposed to represent lsquoThe Common Manrsquo But it becomes a metaphor for the protagonist to express his own helplessness about life ldquoThe film reflects and documents the kind of time I have been living in for the past couple of years mdash a time of hatred intolerance and violencerdquo Sen shared before leaving for France