Mumbai Diary: Thursday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

That's how you make an exit

A porter rests while being towed away on his friend's handcart at Mumbai Central Railway station

This community is blooming

Christopher Lim

Those who have been introduced to Ikebana once, find it hard to treat it as just another pastime. Some pursue this Japanese tradition of flower arrangement for therapeutic relief. The Bombay Sogetsu School in Juhu, which has its headquarters in Tokyo, enables practitioners to cultivate a niche art from an era when creative floral pieces were offered at altars. "The school organises workshops, demonstrations and pop-ups from time to time. But since Covid-19, we haven't planned a big event. Ikebana artist Christopher Lim is an internationally renowned teacher. His presence will benefit students and appreciators as they can learn something distinctive from such a master," shared school director Renu Saraf, who believes that their event on September 12 can bring a small community closer.

In the name of the father

Ratna Pathak Shah and Naseeruddin Shah in a moment from a previous staging of play, The Father. pic courtesy/Prithvi Theatre

When an old play stages a return, it nudges this diarist to outline its evolution. Naseeruddin Shah's The Father - a family drama based on French playwright Florian Zeller's Le Père - recently returned to Prithvi Theatre. We asked Shah what about a text on old age and its unavoidable appendages excites him still. He shared, "It's easily one of the most fascinating plays I have ever read. It is deeply layered and evokes a lot of emotion in the actors and audiences. Despite the success of the earlier time we staged it, I was convinced that we hadn't done justice to the problem it talks about. So we've set that right this time." The veteran actor admitted it was not the temptation of playing that harrowing role again that made him revive the piece, but the desire to get the text across to the audiences. About the theatrical piece positioned along that thin line demarcating the ludicrous from the pathetic, Shah reasoned, "Old age, with its zillion possibilities of illnesses, is itself a combination of the ludicrous and the pathetic. Trouble is we only understand that when we get there. I think it's important to realise where getting older is leading us, and prepare for it." The Father also features actors Ratna Pathak Shah and Trishla Patel.

Bappa sits amid healers of Parel

Paul's Ganpati murti. Pics Courtesy/@paulchaladka

Creative artist Franklin Paul's Bappa wears his heart on his sleeve. The Sion-based artist designed a Ganpati murti as part of a detailed civic miniature to pay his tribute to an economy of healers in and around Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel. "It's an eco-friendly idol. We have collected and re-purposed waste materials such as pen caps, metal scraps and tarpaulin sheets.

The idea for this year's murti was the result of an organic process. For years, whenever I cross Parel, I am amazed at how time stops, and how people unite around the cancer hospital. While the Tatas are doing their bit for the society, an extended society of tireless individuals - chai sellers, medical shop owners, taxi drivers - help patients and their relatives who come for treatment," Paul told this diarist.

A story a day...

An image from Croak written by Kavitha Punniyamurthi and illustrated by Ekta Bharti. Pic Courtesy/Pratham Books

Every year, to make stories accessible to the last-mile child, Pratham Books initiates the One Day, One Story challenge on September 8 - International Literacy Day. After two years of the pandemic, the campaign witnessed the participation of 17,000 reading champions this year, reaching 1.5 lakh kids. Priya Desai from the publishing house shared that the two books that kids across India will be reading are Croak written by Kavitha Punniyamurthi and illustrated by Ekta Bharti, and Beauty is Missing by Priya Kuriyan. "Both are available in 30 languages. Croak is aimed at three to eight-year-olds and Beauty is for older kids. We choose the books based on how well they lend themselves to storytelling," Desai said.