Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Bus, itne hi allowed hain

The conductor of a BEST bus refuses to let a passenger enter at Kandivali, since all seats are full and new rules bar people from standing in the aisle.

An open and shut case

The night curfew and weekend lockdowns have meant that the restaurant industry is back to square one after seeing a glimmer of hope when eateries were allowed to function again during the pandemic. And National Restaurant Association of India president Anurag Katriar is so fed up of the constant U-turns that the state government is taking, that he put up a post asking the authorities to either allow eateries to function as normal following safety protocols, or shut down the industry completely. He reasoned, "If I am shut down, at least I am cutting down on my operational expenses. What is the point of staying open if I struggle to pay even for gas and air-conditioning? You can't handicap me and then ask me to run. Also, when other activities that take part in largely uncontrolled environments, including film shoots and construction work, are being allowed, I fail to understand why we can't do the same when we operate within a completely controlled environment."

To the four

Sunil Shanbag (centre) watches a performance at Studio Tamasha staged last month

Andheri-based theatre space Studio Tamasha celebrated its fourth anniversary last weekend at a time when the theatre industry has been thrown into turmoil once again, after the government ordered performance spaces to be shut down. Founder Sunil Shanbag told this diarist that they had premiered a new play at their Lokhandwala location just last weekend, but are now back to square one. "It's like the whole cycle starting again," he told this diarist, adding, "We still decided to mark the anniversary to remind ourselves that we need strength to carry on." Here's wishing them many more successful years going ahead.

Twice as good

Theatre initiative Readings in a Shed has entered a collaboration with the UK's Director's Cut Theatre Company, as part of which the two groups will create a new short script together, which they will later bring to life as a short film or online performance. Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF), an organisation that aims to bring the two continents closer through art, will fund the project.

Three creators from the UK, including Heather Ward (in pic, below), artistic director of Director's Cut, will put their brains together with sound engineer Varun Gupta, writer Himali Kothari and Nikhil Katara (above), artistic director of Readings in a Shed. Katara told this diarist that he had approached ASEF with the idea of developing a piece that's themed on physical distance. "We will build a performative script over the next 20 days and the final product will have original music that Varun will create," Katara shared, adding that while ASEF would organise a lot of physical collaborations earlier, their efforts are now concentrated on the digital medium.

Masks made for mangroves

Masks will remain a fixture of our lives for a while, going by how the pandemic shows no signs of ending. And Swastik Gawade, a project assistant with the Mangrove Foundation of Maharashtra, has now come up with a variant that raises awareness about the need to save mangroves. He has created different sets with varying designs featuring flamingoes, tortoises and other animals that thrive in mangroves. Gawade told this diarist that he draws the artwork himself with fabric paint. "I source the pure cotton material from Surat, and the price range is between '100 and '150," he shared. Log on to
@rebellious_artist on Instagram to place your orders.

Sound help

Derek Julien is a veteran guitarist from Mumbai who is one of the leading lights of the city's independent music scene. But he was dealt a blow when he contracted COVID-19 recently. He's admitted in the ICU, and well-wishers have started a fundraiser to help with his medical expenses. "I was really young when he was in his prime, but I have always heard about how good he is," shared events organiser Neil V Banks, whose Facebook handle you can log on to, to lend a helping hand.