Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

The Swing thingWith parks closed these children decide to make best use of the trees uprooted by Cyclone Tauktae at Sanjay Gandhi National ParkOde to the hillsHome chef Jasleen Marwah has announced an online cooking class this weekend focusing on Kashmiri fare All the proceeds will be donated to an NGO working in the Tons Valley of Uttarakhand ldquoOver the last three weeks I have been raising money in various ways for charitable causes For the Eid weekend I was making and selling sheer khurma and halwa We raised R25000 for the Hemkunt Foundationrdquo she shared Marwah will be teaching mutsch a mutton meatballs dish and yakhni a yogurtbased sauce both classic Pandit dishes Attendees can either watch or cook along with Marwah To sign up visit namakswaadanusaar on InstagramCelebrating Eversquos legacyItrsquos impossible to think of feminist theatre or literature without the mention of The Vagina Monologues and its playwright Eve Ensler With Ensler celebrating her 67th birthday yesterday theatre veteran Dolly Thakore who has been involved in Indian renditions of the play since 2003 spoke fondly of her association with the play and its writer ldquoThis has been the longest innings of any play I have been involved in Our entire cast called to wish her yesterday We all admire her for her strength grit vivaciousness and honesty I remember reviewing the book on which the play is based in the Sunday Observer when it first came out I then contacted late socialite Parmeshwar Godrej who was hosting Goldie Hawn mdash she had starred in the first staging of the play in 1998 I asked for Goldiersquos number so that we could stage it here as well My fax went unanswered but a year later there was a knock on my door It was Mahabanoo ModyKotwal asking if I would be interested in acting in it I needed no further convincing Over the years the play has evolved beautifullyrdquoDressing up for the spotlightThe NCPA has announced a virtual workshop on reimagining dance costumes with costume designer and curator Sandhya Ratnam on June 18 ldquoWhen classical Indian dances were reconstructed and reintroduced the costumes worn by dancers were standardised There was very little room for deviation However more recently exponents have been reinterpreting and reimagining costumes to essay different roles and convey their themes visually This is important because while dancers typically tend to focus more on the content of their performances the costume is what grabs the attention of the audience In classical dance texts costumes are actually a part of abhinayardquo explained Swapnokalpa Dasgupta head of dance NCPA The first day will focus on the basics of costume construction Therersquos also a design lab where participants can share their costume ideas and have them evaluated by Ratnam Call 8879114939 to registerAnswering the call of EverestIn the run up to Everest Day May 29 entrepreneur Aditya Gupta has launched a book titled 7 Lessons from Everest The book documents his April 2019 ascent ldquoI was eager to leverage this experience for the greater good What you learn on Everest is not only about climbing a peak mdash it is about conquering a challenging goal and dealing with uncertainty At 50 and with no experience in playing any sport I know that if I could reach Everest people can achieve their dreams no matter how intimidatingrdquo he told us Gupta has joined hands with CRY Foundation and proceeds from the sales of the book will be donated for Covid19 reliefSeefah the bakerIf yoursquove been following chef Seefah Ketchaiyorsquos culinary trails on the Gram yoursquod know that shersquos been whipping up a lot of bakes apart from her signature Thai and Japanese fare these days This has now led to the launch of Seefah Bakery a delivery venture where she will craft pork and chicken buns Japanese fluffy cakes coffee custard profiteroles and more ldquoWe plan for a shop but given the current circumstances wersquoll focus on delivery only for now The idea was prompted by the desire to keep my team together We started looking for more sources of revenuerdquo she shared Their menu rolls out soon so keep an eye out