19 October,2024 07:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Team SMD
Pic/Kirti Surve Parade
A woman aims to buy the perfect Chuda for Karwa Chauth at King's Circle.
Ranjit Hoskote
Most people assume religion is about a pious consensus," says poet, art critic and curator Ranjit Hoskote, "But it's [given rise to] dissidence that's critical of orthodoxy, whether it was Lal Ded, Kabir, Meerabai, Bulleh Shah, Mir Taqi Mir, or Agha Shahid Ali." At his talk at Tarq art gallery in Fort on October 23, Hoskote will invoke these mystics, each of whom rebelled against the status quo. Reading from the works of these "disturbers of peace", as he calls them, Hoskote will ask the audience to reflect on how they have shaped modern understanding of man's place in both society and the cosmos. "I'm very preoccupied with the question of
peace," says Hoskote.
Harshita Kakwani uses ingredients from the forest
Harshita Kakwani has taken ingredients found in the forests of Pench (Vidharb) to Ahmedabad with a Forest Food Festival hosted at Lithosphere by Upper Crust. Organised by freelance writer and author Anil Mulchandani who first discovered Kakwani's cooking during a trip to Pench Tiger Reserve - making it the first time Ahmedabad has sampled wild forest foods. Kakwani's prowess with tribal ingredients comes after a decade of living in the Pench Tiger Reserve. Soon after her move from Indore, Kakwani found herself foraging in the forest with the tribals and learning their recipes. Eventually, she built her brand Prana Foods under which she sells baked goods made using wild forest ingredients. "I wanted to add the forest ingredients to my diet because they are high on nutrients," she says, "But it was tough to get the kids to eat dishes from these ingredients and that's when the need to modernise them came my way. I would add the forest greens in a curry or in parathas. I experimented with the Mahua flower in baking, and it makes great cookies, granola, treacle, and other baked goods. It's a natural sweetener, so it's a healthier alternative to sugar as well." At the Forest Food Festival, Kakwani has served a forest thali that consists of a Mahua snack, Dhebra which is a moong dal street snack from the Bastar region and many such more, "With my work, I want to bring back these lost recipes to the dining table," she adds.
Artist Zainab Tambawalla's latest art piece is on display as part of the Larger Than Life exhibit at Method, Kala Ghoda, curated by Srila Chaterjee and includes 15 other artists. The piece explores Mumbai's diverse cultures and evolving architecture through the windows of homes across the city. A watercolour artist, Tambawalla's piece is 33X54 inches, "I could not imagine doing such a large piece in watercolour," she says. As skyscrapers displace older buildings, these windows, once portals to the city's soul, are disappearing. Recently she restarted the project. "Each window is beautiful, but after I created this piece. It's an impression of what you feel when you're moving around in the city," she says. Other artists displaying their work include Julie Kagti, Kalyan Joshi, Banoo Batliboi, Jit Chowdhury, Rakhee Shenoy, Sanjay Chitra, Kaushal Parikh, Wolf Eye, and Tahir Sultan, among others.
Dilip Sardesai In 1971
India's 46 all out situation against the New Zealand cricket team on Thursday reminded followers of the game about the time when the Kiwis bowled out India for 88 - at Mumbai in 1964-65. Responding to his team's 297 in which skipper Graham Dowling scored 129 as opener, fast bowling all-rounder Bruce Taylor claimed 5-26 to have the hosts under siege at the Brabourne Stadium. While Thursday's 46 is India's lowest total at home, this 88 was their lowest in a home Test then.
What happened next? Following on, MAK Pataudi's men amassed 463-5 declared with Dilip Sardesai getting an unbeaten 200 and Chandu Borde scoring 109. It was Sardesai's maiden three-figure score in Test cricket. "DN Sardesai rose to his full stature when he scored a tidy double century," said a caption in Sport & Pastime magazine. Set to score 255 in two and a half hours, New Zealand gasped their way to the end with 80-8. Match drawn and honours even one could say.
Achrekar with his book
Jagdish Achrekar, former Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) treasurer is out with a Marathi book of eight short stories called - Signal Sudha. The book Achrekar says, "features several strong women characters. Signal Sudha, is a short story about a woman who forms a strong relationship with a transgender she meets regularly at a traffic signal." Achrekar states, "I always had a book in me, it was a question of sitting down and putting pen to paper. Writing requires the discipline of a batter at the crease. It is about staying there, putting in the hard yards. At times, the plot is an idea in the head, but you have to "craft" it, like a batsman does an innings. You have to breathe life into the characters, it takes patience, just like a batter waits for the loose ball. You cannot hit every delivery for a boundary."
