Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

He's hair to stay

A roadside barber attends to a customer at Mahim on Monday, after being allowed to resume services in the city. Pic/Shadab Khan

Inside scoop

The Dalai Lama crossing into India with his brother-in-law Phuntok Tashi Taklha

The Dalai Lama is one of the greatest living religious leaders, and a new book sheds light on the more unknown facets of his life. His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography (Roli Books) features hitherto unpublished photographs, documents, archival material and memories of the people closest to the man.

One of his longest-serving aides, Tenzin Geyche Tethong, has put it together, having lived in close proximity to the spiritual leader for four decades, including the time that he was exiled. Pick the title up for a deeper insight into the life of the modern-day icon.

No one like MS Sathyu

Award-winning stage designer, and film and art director MS Sathyu turned 90 yesterday. Recalling the film and theatre icon's role, thespian Dolly Thakore posted a heartfelt tribute on social media. "I first met MS Sathyu in 1971 when he was shooting an ad film for soap and looking for bathrooms, which I helped find. At the shoot, they ran out of soap suds to fill the tub and had to rely on detergent instead. In 2016, when Sathyu received the lifetime achievement award by Thespo, he narrated the story in his acceptance speech. I have very fond memories with Sathyu Sahab and his whole family. Garm Hava will always remain the best cult film on the Partition. There's no one who can touch Sathyu," told this diarist.

Get a kick out of this webzine

Rithwik Rajendran (left) and Abhinav Radhakrishnan

This is a strange season for football fans. After a few months of a will-it-happen-won't-it-happen conundrum, many leagues across the world have started matches again, though the sight of two teams battling it out in a completely empty stadium makes for surreal viewing. But fans can now engage with the sport in different ways, one of which is contributing articles to The Nutmeg Assist. It's a webzine run by Indian fans that's picked up steam during the lockdown.

"We have been recently putting out more stories and podcasts, including with famous people such as commentator Derek Rae and an upcoming one with Indian woman footballer Aditi Chauhan," Rithwik Rajendran, a software developer who started the site with fellow enthusiast Abhinav Radhakrishnan, told this diarist. Send in pitches for articles to thenutmegassist@gmail.com if you're a fan of the beautiful game.

Take a paws

Animal lover and events manager Alice D'souza and her neighbour Niloufer Merchant, who owns a pet store, have been feeding stray dogs in Dadar East ever since the lockdown began in March. "Niloufer is an ardent dog lover. When stores shut down, she started cooking food for strays in the locality.

Even in the month of Ramzan, when she fasts, she would cook dedicatedly. When she approached me to help her with the feeding, I was delighted. And now with the monsoon here, carrying cooked food on a two-wheeler can be a hassle. Also, strays tend to shelter themselves in alleys in the rain, and need to be found. So, we walk through our neighbourhood, enter their hideouts and feed as many as we can find," D'Souza (in pic) told this diarist.

Losing a visionary

There are some champions in the civil services who pay as much attention to the environment as they pay to urban planning. Jamsheed Kanga was one such bureaucrat.

The former Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai passed away last week at the age of 88. Recalling his contribution, poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote told this diarist, "He always focused on the fact that cities should be designed keeping the environment in mind." Mumbai could do with more such visionaries.

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