Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Some heavy news

The city's gig season is finally kicking off in full throttle. After the announcements that American jazz guru Kamasi Washington and English wonderkid Jacob Collier will play in Mumbai, we now hear that Canadian metal act Intervals will also be making their way to our neck of the woods in October. Formed in Toronto in 2011, the band has three acclaimed albums to its name. Their gig in Mumbai has already created quite a flutter among the city's metal circuit, who have a feast lined up this season, what with the mighty Swedish act Opeth scheduled to headline a major music festival.

Into the underworld, again

In 2009, noted painter and writer Aabid Surti delved into the underworld in his book Sufi - The Invisible Man Of The Underworld. The title is set to get a re-release today at a Bandra bookstore where acclaimed filmmaker Sriram Raghavan, screenwriter Sridhar Raghavan and writer-journalist Annie Zaidi will be present. Speaking about the latest edition, Surti told this diarist, "There have been changes and omissions from the earlier edition for an improved flow. Information about legal cases and underworld modus operandi which felt dated has been deleted."

(From left) Seefah Ketchaiyo, Karan Bane, Divesh Aswani and Pablo Naranjo

From bowling to BKK

It is heartening to see the camaraderie between the younger guns of the F&B industry in Mumbai; about which if you know anything at all, you'd know chefs like Pablo Naranjo, Seefah Ketchaiyo and partner Karan Bane, Divesh Aswani, Pooja Dhingra, and Bhakti Mehta. But how many of you knew they are actually bowling friends? Now, they have regrouped in Thailand, though all of them are there for different reasons. "We would often say that we should travel together. Unfortunately though chef Boo Kim isn't here," Aswani told this diarist. Ketchaiyo shares, "Karan, Divesh and I are supposed to do a shoot for the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Then, Pablo [who is also on a gastronomical journey before he returns home to Columbia] said he'll be here at the same time. Hearing this Pooja and Bhakti joined us. And none of this was planned." Well, it looks like they're having a gala time cooking and making merry, albeit coincidentally.

Sustainable and empathetic

Hard work pays off. And more handsomely so if you're working on something that helps resolve daily problems. A Mumbai-based arts education company, which has organised several artsy workshops for more than 2,500 children, along with programmes for adults in the spheres of art, fiction writing and storytelling, is hosting a unique festival from October 4 to 6. Called the Pomegranate Sustainability Festival, it will showcase the hard work put in by students mentored by designers from the Industrial Design Center, IIT Bombay. With space at a premium in Mumbai, the students have focused on researching storage issues in low income communities for this project.

Slice of history

"A collection formed over decades by a person with an eye for detail and knowledge of history coming up for an auction at one go is a huge opportunity," founder of Prinseps Rare Books, a Mumbai-based auction house, Indrajit Chatterjee, told this diarist, while speaking about their upcoming auction that will include gems from collector Sunil Baboo's treasure. Baboo, who has had a deep interest in history and culture, with a special focus on India-centric documents, provides a vibrant field for curators to engage in research. Rarities such as the Hindustani Dictionary, which was written for the East India Company and was meant to help them communicate while in India; and A Code of the Gentoo Laws, which was written during Governor General Warren Hastings' tenure, and has notes on the Hindu laws as stated by Manu, will go under the hammer.

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