The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Sameer Markande
Man, mannequin and baby
A toddler and its guardian walk past a shop at Lokhandwala Market in Andheri West.
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A trip to Mumbai’s sacred spaces
Mount Mary Basilica. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Have you ever wondered what makes a religious space sacred? A series of virtual lectures by the Asiatic Society of Mumbai aims at demystifying the ideology behind the sacred spaces of the city, starting February 13. “Why does a Shiva temple have a Nandi statue outside, or why does a mosque face Kaaba? We will discuss this in the context of Mumbai, including the Doongerwadi, Mount Mary Basilica, the Jewish synagogues and Babulnath Tank, among several other spots,” explained Dr Shehernaz Nalwalla, who is part of the managing committee, adding, “We’ll also address street and indigenous spaces.” Interested to learn more? Write to them at mumbairesearch.asiatic@gmail.com.
March under this arch
Mumbai’s cultural spine project begins near Siddhivinayak Mandir and runs till Mahim. The Dadar-Shivaji Park area, with so much history and milestones on the stretch, is seeing a phased facelift. We came across one more pleasant change under that umbrella. The footpath just outside the old Mayor’s bungalow at Shivaji Park, which is now going to house a Bal Thackeray memorial, has an arch trellis just outside. Soon vines and creepers will crawl up these arches and we may have a canopy of green, a natural umbrella giving pedestrians on the footpath succour in the bummer of a summer we see in the city. Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G North ward, told this diarist, “This is a part of the cultural path, which comes under the overall cultural spine project. The yet-to-be completed arch trellis is designed for aesthetic appeal and relief from the blistering sun.” We are all for greening our footpaths, and eagerly await vines on this trellis. Fuchsia pink bougainvillea might make this resemble a picture postcard, but we leave that to the experts.
What the doc says
Pic/Wikimedia Commons
A leading doctor who is hailed as the Father of Diabetology in the country, Dr V Mohan is set to publish his memoir this month. Titled Making Excellence A Habit (Penguin Random House India), the book is due to release on February 22. The Padma Shri awardee told this diarist that in the title, he will reveal secrets that helped him achieve success. “It’s a story of how passion, focus, resilience and hard work are all necessary for success. More importantly, it shows how spirituality, empathy and integrity can be seamlessly combined with science and the practice of medicine, even in the present day.”
Who’ll be the best indie voices?
The nominations are out for The Indian Music Diaries Awards, an annual event that honours worthy independent musicians in the country. Some of the names in the 10 different categories include Kamakshi Khanna’s Qareeb for Best Music Video and Best Song of the Year, and Topshe for Best Singer-songwriter. Both musicians are based in Mumbai. Organiser Akshay Kapoor shared that there were 600 applications that were sent in, and the jury is now in the process of scanning the shortlisted names. “We expect the final results to be out in about 10 days,” he shared. Watch this space to find out who makes the cut.
Scholarly notes
The NCPA has been a key contributor in nurturing young talent from across the country. And two musicians — Krushna Salunke (bottom), a pakhawaj player being trained by Suresh Talwalkar under Citi-NCPA Support to Gurus CSR initiative, and vocalist Aparajita Chakraborty (left), a winner of the Citi NCPA Hindustani music scholarship - will showcase how they’ve honed their skills during a performance at the institution on February 12.
Chakraborty shared that she learnt a lot during her training, and that the scholarship helped her stay focused on riyaz without financial concerns. “I’ll be performing Raga Bihag in Dhrupad style: Alap and a Dhamar composition at the concert,” the young musician revealed.
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