Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Rush hour

Workers clean an installation near Chembur of three girls running in full stride.

Meet the coastal superstars

Feather star. Pics Courtesy/Sarang Naik

You might head to the beach for sunset views but wildlife photographer Sarang Naik stops by for sea creatures in intertidal zones. Recently, the nature and wildlife photographer shared his latest spotting at Manori beach - the feather starfish. "It's rare to see the feather starfish here. You will usually see it towards the northern shores like Gorai and Vasai, further away from the shore.

From my observations, they appear between January and May, during late winter and pre-monsoon," he shared. Naik suggested heading to Bhuigaon beach between April and May, as people have reported seeing a large number of these pretty creatures.

"I have seen six to seven at a time in Manori. They're related to the normal starfish that we see; the difference is the feather-like structures on the arms that they use to collect and feed on particles floating on the water." For more such views, now is a good time to head to Juhu beach, near the jetty to spot octopuses, sea slugs, snails and eels, or sign up for Marine Life of Mumbai's guided shore walks.

E for Environment

At a previous collection drive

Greenline, a not-for-profit that works towards a greener planet and spreading awareness about environmental issues and solutions, conducts its first E-waste collection drive of the year. Keren Pereira (inset), who works in programme coordination, shared with this diarist that the waste drive includes a collection of all electronic waste that people may have lying around the house, including cables, remote controls, power banks, computers, batteries, cartridges, tube lights, washing machines, kitchen appliances and all electric scrap.

"The idea is to redirect E-waste to proper recycling channels and away from ending up in landfills which is hazardous for the environment and poses a risk of being inflammable," Pereira continued, "Once the bins are full with the collection, our collaborators, The Recycling Company or Threco, will take the collection to their recycling units where a lot can be recycled, like the metal parts of these products."

When animation met comedy

Karan Asnani, founder of Myoho Films, has set out on a new venture with a five-episode-long animated series Domain8, which released earlier this month on YouTube. Dubbing for the lead characters in the series are comedians Abish Mathew and Urooj Ashfaq, among others.

Urooj Ashfaq and Abish Mathew. Pic Courtesy/Instagram

"I think everybody wants to voice an animated character secretly," Mathew laughed, "Karan's previous tie-ups with the comedy industry made this collaboration inevitable." Ashfaq admitted that this was her first time dubbing as well. "It was a little difficult to dub in the beginning, but Karan directed us through it seamlessly," she said, adding that while she recorded over a year ago, Asnani had been working on it for nearly four years.

Til, we meet again!

Exteriors of the Matunga-based eatery

The folks at Anand Bhavan, Matunga East, dished out a surprise to their patrons after they were done with their meals on Monday night - a packet of four til ladoos for each customer to celebrate Makar Sankranti. And for those for whom sugar is a clear no-no, they discovered from their friendly waiter that the ladoos were made of jaggery. Needless to say, the ladoos were great. The gesture, even greater.