Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Smoke in the kitchenChefs Seefah Ketchaiyo and Karan Bane seem to have encountered a rotten egg The duo recently discovered that one of their exstaff members has allegedly opened her own delivery kitchen in Prabhadevi with a menu that is identical to theirs ldquoShe was one of our first team members and quite close to us She had told us that she will open a delivery kitchen and we were very happy for her Seefah wanted to order from her outlet and asked for the menu After dodging for a while when she sent it we realised it is a copypaste version of ours Seefah tried to confront her but we havenrsquot been able to connect with herrdquo Bane told this diarist Ketchaiyorsquos clarification on social media harboured the support of customers and chefs who lamented that this is a recurring disappointment Bane added that while replicating ideas is indeed common they didnrsquot expect a team member they considered family to lift a whole menuSinging successThe competition is open to indie bands across genresThe Indian Music Diaries TIMD is an online platform that does a stellar job of shining a spotlight on unheralded indie musicians from the nooks and crannies of India Last year they had inaugurated The Indian Music Diaries Awards which sought to honour the best independent artistes from across India and across genres They are now back with the second edition and are inviting applications in different categories including Best Music Video Best Album Artwork and Best Hiphop Release TIMD editor Akshay Kapoor shared with this diarist ldquoOver the past few years we have seen different genres emerging including in the electronic and hiphop spaces and we wanted to recognise all these different kinds of musicians There are 10 categories of which eight will be decided by a jury one by public choice and one by our editorsrdquo Interested Visit theindianmusicdiariescom and file your nomination by January 27This adda is all heartDealing with the pandemic has been difficult for us all but the times have been particularly harsh on those with disabilities Thatrsquos why citybased nonprofit organisation Ummeed Child Development Centre is launching Apna Adda an online space for young people with disabilities and friends next month The first session will take place on February 17 where participants aged between 15 and 20 years can share their stories and connect with the community ldquoParents who have children with disabilities are often too occupied with the therapy aspect so we wanted to create a space for leisure We hope to organise this once a month fora yearrdquo Jehanzeb Baldiwalla director mental health services told this diaristCycle away your traffic bluesWith the city unlocking in various phases a visible sign of the lsquoold normalrsquo has been traffic jams that not only slow you down but also contribute to pollution But for folks working or residing in and around Versova herersquos some good news Bicycle sharing service MyByk which has been working with the Mumbai Metro and civic body has now set up a rental hub outside Versova Metro station from where one can rent cycles for as little as R2hour ldquoAt present MyByk services are available at four stations on the Metro Line 1 and we aim to expand to five more stations as soon as permissions are received Mumbai Metro users can now rent bikes for their first and last mile connectivity We also have plans that allow users to rent the bike and keep it at homerdquo shared founder and CEO Arjit SoniDraw in the regional writersWhile inclusivity is a theme in literature thatrsquos often associated with English language works titles in Indian languages have been championing it since forever And a oneday festival by social venture Belongg and Indian Novels Collective aims to celebrate this The lineup includes online panels featuring Ruth Vanita whorsquoll look at samesex love in literary works Mona Zote and Sabreen Ahmed whorsquoll elaborate on literature from the NorthEast Bnim who will focus on writing about disability and Shefali Tripathi Mehta top right who will talk about Shanta Gokhalersquos right works Avinash and Rita Welinkar which highlighted the need for mental health care ldquoDuring our lit fest last year we realised that the dominant conversation wersquove been steering has been in English wersquore not being inclusive unless we include Indian languages Works in Marathi Telugu Malayalam Bengali and a spectrum of writings from the NorthEast are so rich the entire gamut of English canrsquot capture such themesrdquo said community manager Lasya Nadimpally To tune into the conversations head to their social media pages