16 March,2025 06:55 AM IST | Mumbai | Team SMD
Pic/Ashish Raje
A street-side ear cleaner attends to a kulfiwala at Dadar Chowpatty - the better to hear you with when you call out to him, perhaps?
It's going to be an Indian Summer at Goran's Spring, Croatia. We learn that India is the featured country at the 62nd edition of Goranovo ProljeÃÂe, the annual poetry manifestation in Croatia. The festival will take place between March 20 and 23, in Croatian capital Zagreb, Lukovdol, the birthplace of Ivan Goran KovaÃÂiÃÂ, as well as the coastal city of Rijeka and the Istria region. Festival director Marko PogaÃÂar informs us that the manifestation is named after and dedicated to KovaÃÂiÃÂ, a famous Croatian poet who lost his life during World War II as a partisan, antifascist fighter.
Mustansir Dalvi. FILE PIC/SATEJ SHINDE
Every year the festival has one country or one language in focus, and in 2025, for the first time, the focus country is India. The five featured poets are Mustansir Dalvi (who also translates from Marathi and Urdu), Manya Joshi, Sanjeev Khandekar, Hemant Divate (who also translates from English) and Sampurna Chatterji (who also translates from Bangla and Hindi). Mumbai's Dalvi, poet and translator, said he will be reading several poems there, one of which is Rivers Wanted. Some lines from his poem read: âA trickle will do. A slither leaving infinity tracks; like a sidewinder on a sand dune...'
According to the Poetrywala Foundation from Mumbai, this is a "continuation of the Foundation's ongoing mission to build bridges through the shared language of poetry". If poetry be the glue in a world, roiled by conflict we say: more power to the âwrite'-wing poetry party.
Australia's T20 cricket captain Mitchell Marsh is an all-rounder, who would be an asset to any side in the short forms of the game. Though a back injury forced him to miss the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy, Marsh, the brother of Shaun and son of former Australia batsman and coach Geoff, will figure for Lucknow Super Giants in the forthcoming Indian Premier League as a batsman alone.
Imran Khan; (right) Mitchell Marsh. PICS/GETTY IMAGES
This diarist immediately thought about Imran Khan, who led Pakistan in the last two Tests of the 1983-84 series in Australia and played purely as a batsman due to a leg injury. In his first Test of the series - at Melbourne - Imran defied Dennis Lillee & Co to score a gritty 83 in a 233-minute stay at the crease for Pakistan to score 470.
In the second innings, he spent almost the same amount of time for Pakistan's top-score 70 not out in the drawn Test. The next game at Sydney was where Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh bid Test cricket goodbye. As for Imran, he continued fighting injuries to take Pakistan to new heights. And yes, he started bowling again to add 130 Test scalps to his then 232. But he never felt as nervous as he did in Melbourne on December 26, 1983 when the Test match commenced.
Dame Vivienne Westwood. Pic/Getty Images
After Dior, it's time for Vivienne Westwood. The iconic fashion house will host their first-ever fashion show in India on April 1, at the Gateway of India. In partnership with the Maharashtra government and Vivz Fashion School, it aims to celebrate Indian textiles and will present a collection of Vivienne Westwood couture looks created with natural hand-woven fabrics by artisans using traditional and sustainable techniques. Pop culture addicts will remember the Westwood wedding dress Carrie Bradshaw wears in Sex in the City. We can hardly wait!
Cecilia'ed, by Indu Antony, part of the exhibit. Pic courtesy/Apre Art House
Your bra strap is showing." Which woman hasn't grown up hearing, and being incensed by, these words? Turning the phrase on its very head is a new multi-artist exhibition at Apre Art House, entitled My Peeking, Red Bra Strap. The show, featuring work by 15 artists from across the country, critiques control over the female body, using the bra strap as a metaphor for resistance. The admonition to "hide your bra strap" reflects the deeply-rooted patriarchy in Indian society, creating a narrative of shame around women's bodies, much like it is done with the taboo around menstruation. Here, though, the bra strap becomes a subversive metaphor. In a tongue-in-cheek moment during the opening night, the gallery, in collaboration with The Label Life, also gifted custom-made red bra straps to attendees to "assert that what is often hidden - whether bra straps, desires, or voices - holds the power to disrupt, resist and redefine," says Prerna Jain, Founder, Apre Art House.
A photograph by Ashesh Shah of mid-day, featured in the exhibition, taken during an army flag march near Worli gaon area
The Mumbai Press Club is exhibiting powerful photographs that documented the riots and bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993. Chairman of the exhibition Rajesh Mascarenhas says, "It's our way of tipping our hat to those brave media personnel." The exhibition, named Forty-Four Thousand Words, started yesterday and will be open to the public until April 30 at the Mumbai Press Club on Mahapalika Marg.
