28 March,2025 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Kirti Surve Parade
A man practises spinning the chakra ahead of Gudi Padwa Shobha Yatra in Sion
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Intach will host photographer Hemant Chaturvedi (inset) for a talk on Mumbai's silver screen spaces tomorrow at a venue in Walkeshwar. "Through my personal archive of printed memorabilia, I will try to weave a story around the establishment of drama theatres in erstwhile Bombay, like Elphinstone Theatre, Gaiety Theatre and others. The idea is to construct an exhibition on the history of cinema, lost stars and general anecdotes till the arrival of CinemaScope in 1953," Chaturvedi shared with this diarist.
The 90-minute talk will be a visual walkthrough of the materials that the Chaturvedi has amassed through his research on Mumbai cinemas. "Theatres are a very important part of Indian culture. His [Hemant] work is a well-documented account of the subject and we are glad to have him share his knowledge with us," Katyayani Agarwal, convener, INTACH said.
Fishermen at Uttan in Navi Khadi. Pic courtesy/Yash Sheth
Come May, and there will be more to enjoy down at Uttan in Bhayandar than a walk by the beach. Alongside resident Mogan Rodrigues, photographers Yash Sheth and Wigbert Piedade have teamed up to host the first Uttan Kala Mahotsav in the town nearly 45 km north of Mumbai. "I first started exploring Uttan after the first lockdown. The more I visited, I fell in love with the coastal town," said the Bhayandar resident. "Mumbai is much more than Colaba and Bandra. Uttan has a cluster of villages that have a deep history, culture and heritage that is not only the beaches, but also music, people and language," he shared. The festival will take place over two days with photography exhibitions, historical and poetry walks, culinary and art pop-ups as well. Those looking to lend a hand can reach out at 9167027622.
Adil Jussawalla. File pic
After Amitav Ghosh released his collection of writings earlier this year with Wild Fictions: Essays, it's now the turn of Adil Jussawalla to engage with his legion of fans who now have one more reason to celebrate his prose. The Diamond-Encrusted Rat Trap: Writings from Bombay by Adil Jussawalla promises to be a page-turning anthology of essays by one of the finest and most respected Indian writers in English. When he was barely 17 years old, Jussawalla left Bombay for London, in search of something brighter and grander. Thirteen years later, he returned to the city of his birth, and it was the beginning of a lifelong bitter-sweet love affair. The book will bind together Jussawalla's prose pieces on Bombay-Mumbai, written between 1980 and 2002. "His city," as Jerry Pinto writes in the introduction, "is built of chance encounters, of laughing liftmen, of departed friends and other ghosts', and his writing on it gives witness to its âbigness and strangeness', its âabsent-minded cruelty and sometimes an absent-minded kindness." Go ahead and indulge in a large slice of vintage Bombay-meets-Mumbai, as only Jussawalla can serve it.
A moment from a session by the foundation. Pic courtesy/Waatavaran on Instagram
The city's deteriorating air quality has been a matter of concern for a long time now. To find solutions, city-based NGO Waatavaran Foundation is conducting a convention on Mumbai's path to clean air and better health at IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Churchgate today.
"We have been working on the issue for nearly six years now. This will be a one-of-its- kind event where citizens, government officials, experts and think tanks will come together to address the issue of air pollution at its source level, identify pollution causing hotspots in the city and devise strategies to tackle them," Bhagwan Kesbhat, (right) founder, shared with us.
A moment from a previous session. Pic courtesy/Nehru Centre Library
The Nehru Centre Library will dress up to its nines with poetry tomorrow. Nine poets will participate in a unique multilingual poetry session this weekend. "This is part of our regular bi-monthly literary event. The idea behind this particular session, curated by Paramita Mukherjee Mullick is to promote poetry as a literary genre," Arati Desai, librarian and documentation officer, shared with this diarist. With poetry recitals in languages like Odia, Bangla, Kutchi and more, this session's theme is centred on manifestation. "Manifest has been one of the most popular words in the conversation for a while now, and we decided to take it up as our theme," Desai revealed. Those keen to attend the event can register at nehrucentrelibrary@gmail.com.
