Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Helter shelter
Could Kangana Ranaut be saying, "My curls are dry thanks to him"? when we catch her in Juhu on a rainy day. Pic/Satej Shinde

Bombay to NY
In 1947, a group of artists came together in Bombay to form Progressive Artists' Group, and give Indian art a new identity. With KH Ara, SK Bakre, HA Gade, MF Husain, SH Raza and FN Souza as its founders, the group continues to shape Indian art.

In a rare treat for art connoisseurs, the Asia Society Museum in New York will showcase works by the artists (including later members) in September. We call this rare because even in India, it's not everyday that we come across works by such legends in one show.

The interiors of the Andheri outlet

Andheri gets a new casa
Bandra's Su Casa has made its mark as being a picturesque space for lunch with its pretty al fresco section, and a buzzing night spot with its DJ nights. Owner Suren Joshi is all set to open the second outlet of his Bandra baby in Andheri on July 23. When this diarist inquired about the choice of location, Joshi said, "Why not? I got a great offer with J7 Hospitality's owner Amarjeet Shukla, who was keen on launching the brand in Andheri. The idea behind Su Casa is that it can cater to all crowds with some amazing food festivals during the day and be your bar next door at night.

Suren Joshi

Also, since most of my places have always launched in Bandra, we are now focusing on newer destinations," he reveals. The space will offer dishes like colo cassia tuk, which is a hand mashed and double fried arbi tossed in Indian masala; scrambled cilantro cottage cheese; pulled chicken chives bruschetta, Mediterranean spiced cottage cheese steak; stuffed aubergine ravioli with roasted pumpkin purée and pesto moussaka crepes and feta; and pizzas like Spanish cocoa, and smoked duck pizza by chef Anil J. Time to move the party to Andheri.

Back to school
Jewellery designer Shaheen Abbas is currently in Italy, though, not on a holiday, but in school! She has enrolled at the Alchimia contemporary jewellery school Florence to train as a certified bench jeweller, that is someone who does not just design the jewellery, but also makes it. The designer told this diarist, "I decided to do this course because I always like to learn new things and skills. I wanted to do this course from Alchimia because This is one of the best institutions to learn contemporary jewellery making. They train you to do everything that goes into a piece from scratch. I feel it is important to keep upgrading your skills and knowing what goes behind every piece that is made in your workshop for your brand."

Have an eco-friendly birthday
The plastic ban has left businesses thinking out of the box to find substitutes - supermarkets are handing out cloth bags, and takeaways are packing disposable wooden spoons. But one particular innovation made us especially happy. A cake we had ordered from an old-time city bakery had a paper "Happy birthday" pin stuck to it, as opposed to the plastic ones we'd get earlier. Good riddance to bad rubbish, we say!

Horse power
After a three-month hiatus, racing returns to western India, with the start of the Pune Race Meeting 2018 on July 20. This year, the Pune racing season will spread across 26 days. The prize money is bigger. There is also an increase in the advertised stake money for the Pune season, and it now stands at '8.16 crore as against '7.83 crore in 2017. The big ticket event will be the Pune Derby Grade 1 in October. Before that, though, Pune will celebrate its decades long association with the army. Snap a salute to the Southern Command Gold Trophy race day with army regalia and participation, to be run on September 1. A great many racing professionals from Mumbai are expected to do the trip during the season, living up the long-standing association of horse racing shared by the two cities.

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