Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Bipin Kokate

Holy waters

Devotees offer prayers during the solar eclipse at Walkeshwar's Banganga Tank on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Starting on a different note

An independent music label for young and upcoming musicians, TAA Music Label, just released its first EP on World Music Day. It features four popular folk songs: Aya Lariye (Punjabi), Chamba (Himachali), Charkha (Punjabi) and Vallav re nakhwa (Marathi).

The first song features visually challenged kids from Pragati Andh Vidhyalay, an NGO in Badlapur, and singer Aanchal Shrivastava, co-founder of the label shared that the it had to be taught to kids over the phone. "It's a lot more than just a song; it imbibes the emotions of these amazing kids who deserve a platform to showcase their outstanding talent. It brings in a vibe of peppiness and happiness amongst the listeners," she added.

When kids have all questions

As part of the initiative, Ask Me Anything by Brainologi, bestselling author for children Roopa Pai had a virtual chat session with kids over the weekend on Zoom. Although the session was centred on Krishnadevaraya, the legendary king of Vijayanagara, Pai was asked some very fundamental and unexpected questions.

Of her favourite one, she told this diarist, "I loved the question by a child who asked, 'I always struggle with how to start and how to end a story when I write. How do you do it?' This is actually a question so essential to writing - even established writers have to think about this."

Taking flight

Crested Hawk by Hira Punjabi

The Piramal Art Gallery at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) has started work on their upcoming exhibition which is themed around birds. The physical show, however, will be set up only after normalcy is restored.

Dr Salim Ali

"This is a tribute to all bird photographers in India including ornithologist Dr Salim Ali [whose 33rd death anniversary was observed last Saturday]. My target is to have at least 100 photographers participate in the exhibition. I've already received entries by 80, comprising 200 species. I feature works by 10 photographers every week on social media. I also intend to host online talks," Mukesh Parpiani, head of photography and gallery at NCPA, told this diarist. For submission inquiries, write to mukesh.ncpa@gmail.com.

When tigers cause roadblocks

Pic/@adityadickysin/Twitter

In a refreshing break from pandemic-related news, ace wildlife photographer and conservationist Aditya "Dicky" Singh posted this image over the weekend showcasing majestic tigers blocking the road to Ranthambore National Park. The route, Singh told this diarist, is actually a paved road that goes to the Ranthambore Fort from the Sawai Madhopur town to take visitors to the park. "Normally, it also has a steady traffic of pilgrims going to the famous temple of Ganesha atop the fort. Tigers and other wild animals move across this road regularly but rarely do they sprawl out in the middle, blocking it," he informed.

The national park is now open to visitors after being shut down during the lockdown, although the temple is shut. Thus, there is very little traffic and Singh, along with his conservationist friend Dr Dharmendra Khandal, headed to the park last Friday morning. Detailing his experience, Singh added, "We were the first in, and as soon as we reached an area called Ada Balaji, we found a tigress called Arrowhead and her two nearly full-grown daughters blocking the road. I have been living and photographing animals in Ranthambore since 1998 but this was something that I had not really seen before. Within a few minutes of us hitting the road block, vehicles of the other visitors to the national park arrived. The tigers got up and slowly walked on the road till they went towards the horizon. It was all over by 6.15 am. A great start to the day."

A sound idea

Not many people know this about Bangalore boy Nikhil Chinapa (in red tee), but he was once a sound engineer for theatre, including for a musical called Kiss of the Spiderwoman in 1997. In a recent evocative post, he addressed the then-revolutionary technique of mics being taped to an actor's head so that the sound didn't waver, instead of performers holding the gadget in their hands.

"That mindset only works for musicals nowadays, because otherwise, in theatre, actors are supposed to project their natural voice," said contemporary theatre actor and sound designer Priyanka Charan, about the unique technique for stage.

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