Mumbai Diary: Saturday Dossier

26 October,2024 07:15 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  Team mid-day

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

Pic/Shadab Khan


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Chairmen INC

Workers transport chairs on a light commercial vehicle near Crawford Market

Ode to an icon


Ratan Tata with the author

Ratan Tata: A life (HarperCollins India) by Thomas Matthew is a biographical account of the icon that's all set for book stores. The story traces his journey from childhood to heading the Tata Trusts, as well as his business and philanthropic legacy. Matthew recalled the exhaustive process to write this book, "I hope readers find the extraordinary life story of Ratan Tata as gripping as I did while researching and writing
this book."

Live life like Yamraj


Yamraj shares a picture with a dog and an old man in their final moments on his social media

There is a new influencer in our midst. With 8.4 million followers, he influences lives, both on and off social media. "Everyone is constantly giving life updates on social media. I wanted to see what it would be like when Yamraj, the God of Death, starts giving his life updates," chuckled AI artist Varun Gupta. The oxymoron doesn't go unnoticed.


Varun Gupta

And as dark as it sounds, Yamraj's depiction in Gupta's new AI series is lively. He shares stories of the good souls he meets, and uploads a selfie along with captions describing their final moments, and why their good work will live on. "When we think of Yamraj, we imagine a scary character. I wanted to show a humble side where he is simply doing his job," Gupta shared. When we ask who the only three people Yamraj follows on social media are, Gupta says they are Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. Obviously.

Bol Bachchans, all


The Bachchan family at a film premiere. FILE PIC

Recently, news that the Bachchan family had purchased 10 flats in Mulund West's Oberoi Eternia complex spread like wildfire within the community, as the residents' WhatsApp group was abuzz as soon as the story was shared on the group. Almost every resident would vouch that the Bachchans were unlikely to move from their palatial bungalows in Juhu and to the comparatively small apartments, and yet the buzz elicited chuckles from all quarters. A resident wondered if Jaya Bachchan would join the ladies' community, and require a house help and a cook. Another quipped she may even inform the rest (women) that her help/cook would be available post 3 pm in case she needed additional work. A third wanted to know if the Bachchans might join the carpool community, adding that the prized seat could be called a ‘hot seat'. There was speculation whether the Bachchans might head to tuck into pav bhaji at a favourite local eatery, or if Abhishek Bachchan might have to queue up on Sundays for jalebi-fafda at popular addas. Suggestions went all the way to include the Bachchans in the upcoming get-together, and if Aishwarya might perform on Dola re dola. All of this took precedence even as residents were negotiating morning rush hour. Phew!

School rules seem cool


The installation in Bandra East

School is cool while rules are not? Well, maybe. Yet in this avatar, we think both school and rules, school rules, as it says, are cool. This diarist spotted a quirky installation at a traffic island in Bandra East. The irony is that this new occupant is close to Chetana College. The coloured pencils are attractive and the multiplication and division installations take one back to the rhyme: Multiplication is vexation; division is as bad; the rule of three perplexes me and fractions drive me mad. Go figure, we say.

Salute to Ludhianvi


Sahir Ludhianvi. File pic

On famous lyricist and poet Sahir Ludhianvi's 44th death anniversary yesterday, fan and actor, Sumit Bharadwaj (inset), delivered two solo performances in Versova as a tribute to Ludhianvi. "I recited his poems that still resonate with the times we live in. He was a great writer who has influenced many lives. The solo act titled Parchhaiyaan, celebrated his legacy through his words of resistance and romance. Be it the wars, politics, or romance, one can still sing the songs he wrote without realising they were written over 50 years ago," he shared.

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