Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Suresh Karkera

Colours for heroes

An artist from St+art India paints a tribute to essential workers at Mahim station on Wednesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Cycle councillors for 24 wards

Cycling enthusiasts have been demanding councillors for each ward in the city

After a long wait, Mumbai is finally going to get 24 bicycle councillors who will lay the groundwork to make the city the bicycle capital of India by 2030. The initiative, titled Cycle Chala City Bacha, is being helmed by Bicycle Mayor of Mumbai Firoza Suresh, who has put together a team of panellists who will select the councillors. The panellists - which include urban planners, architects and transport experts such as Gautam Kirtane, Anca Abraham, Zohra Mutabanna, Pallavi Kulkarni, among others - will later also mentor the councillors.

"More than 50 people have already applied. Each panellist will handle three to four wards and mentor the councillors on how to mobilise key stakeholders, sort out area issues and engage with educational institutions. The councillors will be responsible for promoting cycling in their areas. They will also have interns and volunteers working under them," said Suresh, adding that the councillors will be selected on the basis of interviews. A similar project is unfolding in Guwahati and Bengaluru, too, and is being anchored by bicycle mayors.

Comedian trolled for her joke

Yesterday, city-based stand-up comedian Kajol Srinivasan, like many others, took to making jokes on Coronil. She wrote, "Ramdev launches Coronil - a miracle Corona drug. I don't know if it will cure you, but if you take it along with whatever he is smoking, you may think it does." She was then at the receiving end of comments from several trolls, with some getting personal and even threatening her with sexual violence and rape. Srinivasan chose to take a stand against one such troll, tagging Mumbai Police on Twitter, urging them to take action.

"This isn't the first time I am being trolled but this one crossed a line. I discovered he was a government official and he needs to be called out for his vulgar comments. I am not sure if the police intervenes in these cases but it was important for me to call it out," she told this diarist.

Speaking of cures

It wasn't just Kajol Srinivasan. Coronil, the alleged Coronavirus cure by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali, caught Vicky Malhotra's (comedian Varun Thakur's alter ego that takes on current events) attention, too, and he believes he may soon be on his way to his next date with a woman, if Ayush (who, he believes is a person) approves.

"We are comedians. The one thing that we do is talk about topics that are in the news. Personally, if this medication works following guidelines, it will be great for everyone. I just don't want anyone to claim stuff without confirmation," Thakur told this diarist about the video that speaks of how the world is waiting for a cure and if Coronil was to be one, it has to tested and verified by experts.

Playing new tunes

Although the past couple of months have been difficult, people have been coming up with creative ways to sustain themselves. Take for instance DJ and producer Diatonik, also known as Animesh Barthakur, who co-authored a book, titled My Mom Is a DJ, along with content writer Roma Thakur after the industry shut down, leaving him jobless. However, unable to gather funds to self-publish, Diatonik has tied up with Ketto for a fundraiser.

Explaining his reason for writing the book, he said, "I was supposed to play at Tomorrowland this year, but have been deemed redundant due to the lockdown and collapse of the events industry. To make up for the lost time and to make an income, I have written this book that gives people a peek into the inner workings of the lives of disc jockeys."

Bed-time woes

Have you realised that you've become a night-crawler in the past few months? Well, you're not alone. A recent survey by a health monitoring device firm revealed that our sleep cycles are changing. According to the study, based on data collected since March 18, while sleep duration has remained the same (430 minutes), the wake-up time has increased by 30 minutes. The time taken to fall asleep, too, has increased during the lockdown.

"Time taken to fall asleep is directly linked to insomnia, which is highly co-morbid with depression. Growing anxiety and financial insecurity might be the leading reasons," the survey stated. Speaking to this diarist, co-founder Mudit Dandwate said, "As we move away from our circadian rhythm, there can be harmful impacts in the long run."

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