<h2>Gate out of here</h2>
<p>Two children scale the locked gate of a school in Nehru Nagar on Monday</p>
<h2>City pianist has a key chance to win an award</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/Niranjan-Joshi_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) is a non-profit trust that aims to nurture and encourage young Indian artistes through awards, workshops and other events. The first award they had set up was the Toto Music Award (TMA) in 2004, back at a time when Indian independent music was still at a nascent stage. But it&rsquo;s grown into a full-fledged industry in the intervening period, and TMA has also grown in stature as one of the country&rsquo;s most respected award shows, especially because TFA is not a music agency and thus doesn&rsquo;t have any vested interests in promoting any specific artiste. The shortlist of three people for this year&rsquo;s edition has now been announced, and it includes Mumbai-based pianist Niranjan Joshi (in pic), apart from Kerala-based electronic music producer Pina Colada Blues and Chennai-based artiste Ranj. Anurag Shanker, who leads the music team at TFA, told this diarist that a jury whittled 17 names from the longlist down to this trio. &ldquo;According to me, all those 17 musicians are already winners because they are fantastic in their own right. They each have their own independent message that they convey through their music,&rdquo; he said, adding that the name of the final winner will be announced next month, which is also when the identity of this year&rsquo;s jury will be revealed.</p>
<h2>Lending a helping hand</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/Harteeraj_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>During the second wave last year, Delhi-based Hemkunt Foundation had launched a national helpline number that worked as a one-stop platform for people&rsquo;s COVID-19-related needs including food, oxygen and other essentials. The service was applicable to people in Mumbai as well, who called the number when they required urgent pandemic-related help. They had shut it in the middle, but now with the third Coronavirus wave upon us, the helpline&rsquo;s been restarted. &ldquo;We were getting a lot of calls from people and realised that we needed the helpline. People usually have to make calls to different numbers. But here, they can call just one [9990691313] and we will direct them to our volunteers across the country,&rdquo; said founder Harteerath Singh (in pic).</p>
<h2>Pleasing planters</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/Garden-a_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>We never &lsquo;tire&rsquo; (pun intended) of such sights. This diarist came across a very pleasing sight in busy, buzzing Parel, near the ITC hotel. These tires had been cut, painted and made into planters, and installed on the corner of a footpath. It was a compelling idea; to make planters out of waste, while the green inside gave a tremendous facelift to the pavement. This, we feel, is how our city, with its crowded corners and steady flow of traffic, can be aesthetically enhanced.</p>
<h2>Stray thought</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/Stray-dog_e.jpg" alt="A screen grab from the tutorial" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>A screen grab from the tutorial</em></strong></p>
<p>Not too many people are aware of this, but January 14 to 30 is celebrated across the world as Animal Welfare Fortnight. To mark the occasion, city-based NGO iNaturewatch Foundation has put up a live tutorial on its Facebook page that teaches viewers how to make a DIY dog bed in under 30 minutes. &ldquo;The idea is to help stray dogs who find it difficult in winter. People sometimes leave gunny bags and bed sheets for them, but these get taken away,&rdquo; Dr V Shubhalaxmi, the NGO&rsquo;s founder, told this diarist.</p>
<h2>A life-changing opportunity</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/India-Fellow_e.jpg" alt="One of the participants from a previous edition of the programme" width="1280" height="720" /><br /><strong><em>One of the participants from a previous edition of the programme</em></strong></p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s a chance for people aged between 20 and 30 to give their lives a new direction, while also doing their bit to make the world a better place. India Fellow is a countrywide initiative that offers an 18-month programme for graduates, where they spend time in rural India working with an NGO to uplift the local populace there.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/jan/Swati-Saxena_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>They are now inviting applications for the batch that starts in July, with March 31 being the deadline for interested people to apply. &ldquo;We do a two-week training course with the selected participants, after which they begin work on the field,&rdquo; shared Swati Saxena (inset), programme head at India Fellow. Visit indiafellow.org for more information.</p><p>
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Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

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