Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Not Cool, Ms Bag-Wati: Despite the obvious choking hazard, a woman uses a flimsy plastic bag as protection against the downpour, on a scooter ride through Dadar. Pic/Ashish Raje

Home support from BTS

A disaster-resilient home built through the initiative

The Indian fanbase of Grammy-nominated K-pop sensation BTS has collaborated with Habitat for Humanity India to build disaster-resilient houses for marginalised communities. Titled Project Mi Casa, the fundraiser has been influenced by the BTS hit ‘Home' and marks the birthdays of three of the band's seven members - Jeon Jungkook (September 1), Kim Namjoon (September 12) and Park Jimin (October 13). Commenting on the initiative, Dr Rajan Samuel, managing director of Habitat India, said, "Cementing a worldwide reputation as a socially-conscious pop group, BTS has inspired global youth to contribute towards creating a more equitable and inclusive society. The fundraising drive will help us expand our outreach to disaster-affected families."

K-pop band BTS

Winging it

Common grass yellow butterfly

The 2021 edition of Big Butterfly Month-India kicked off over the weekend and includes online sessions on butterfly habitat and gardening, origami, videography and a photography contest, apart from The Big Butterfly Count, the documentation of butterflies. Isaac Kehimkar known as the Butterfly Man of India, who inaugurated the month-long project, said, "Butterflies are important to the ecosystem; they are the best indicator of climate change. With the advent of social media, butterflies have found a lot of popularity. Many students are finding careers in the field as biologists, conservationists, researchers and butterfly garden designers."

The write choice for writers

If you're trying to gain a foothold in the craft of writing, an initiative called South Asia Speaks is offering the right kind of guidance. They have announced a mentorship programme where experts including Prayaag Akbar, Fatima Bhutto, Avni Doshi, Arunava Sinha and Sonia Faleiro will hand-hold selected applicants and show early career writers the ropes.

Animated, for young minds

Stills from The Watch Maker at Times End

From September 10 to 19, the Royal Opera House, along with the Looking Glass film club and Avid Learning, will host the virtual Children's Short Film Festival, showcasing six animated short films for children. The aim is to expose young children to different kinds of media and storytelling in a fun way. The festival is a part of the Royal Opera House's efforts to present young minds to new art and storytelling forms, each with a distinct set of lessons and visuals. They plan to bring events that expose the youth to arts and culture in an interactive manner. This digital film festival is one such means of educating the audience on different cultures, traditions and values from across the globe. To watch the films, visit their channel on YouTube.

Lakshmi Aayi Hai

Green lessons

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Conservation Education Centre has begun an initiative that provides schools across the country free environmental education, through webinars on several topics. "Environment education is essential yet lesser importance is given to this subject in the Indian education system. Promoting environmental education will not only help to raise responsible citizens but will also help to create awareness and love towards nature. All the aided, unaided, Adivasi ashram schools and government or underprivileged schools can approach BNHS for the webinars. The webinars can be conducted in English, Marathi and Hindi," said its director Dr Raju Kasambe. Register at cec-mumbai@bnhs.org.