The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Crossing the Line
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Two senior citizens throw caution to the wind while crossing a divider near CSMT station.
City in poetry
A previous city walk by the club; (right) Saranya Subramanian
Ask Saranya Subramanian of The Bombay Poetry Crawl about the best way to experience the city, and she will answer that it is through a poet’s eyes. This Sunday, the event’s next edition will navigate Kala Ghoda through the lens of poet Arun Kolatkar’s works. She shared, “Kolatkar points to the realities of then Bombay through characters and the caricatures he makes out of them, like Sir David Sassoon, the street dog that claims the city as its own, and people on the street that you can’t name by occupation, who are on the outside of institutions that have built Bombay but they are crucial in looking at the gaping holes of modernisation; they are the antithesis of everything that is supposed to be cosmopolitan.” She concluded that the poet shares multiple histories and temporalities of Bombay that were built together, in a poignant and whimsical way.
Stylist of the Spider-Verse
John Romita Sr. Pic courtesy/ @JrRomita; (right) an autographed panel featuring Mary Jane as drawn by him
There is grief in the Spider-Verse this week. John Romita Sr — the Silver age illustrator of Spider Man after Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — passed away on June 14. “For comic book fans, he was far more than just an illustrator,” said comic book writer Vilas Virat Pawar. “He did a lot of notable work. From arcs like the death of Gwen Stacy, and the Daredevil to the sleeker look of Iron Man’s armour, he influenced the canon,” Pawar pointed out. For comic book fan and writer Alok Sharma, Romita Sr’s most influential move was transforming Spider Man’s love interest — Mary Jane. “While Steve Ditko and Stan Lee got a lot of credit, it was Romita Sr whose artwork made Spider Man a bestseller in the 1960s and the ’70s,” he remarked. Sharma pointed out that Romita Sr used to illustrate for a fashion magazine. “He designed the ultimate Mary Jane, influenced by fashion elements,” he shared. A part of Sharma’s comic memorabilia is a panel of Mary Jane and Peter Parker’s first meeting in issue 25 signed by Romita Sr himself. “That panel is the one where she says to Parker, “Congratulations, tiger! You’ve hit the jackpot”. If that were not enough, Romita Sr was the co-creator of Wolverine. Pawar shared that the artist’s work influenced the modern myths in the comic universe. “Fans know it. I remember watching the Daredevil series and sitting up when the character’s father fought a boxer named Romita. It was an homage,” Sharma concluded.
Alok Sharma and Vilas Virat Pawar
Taking a stand for the survivors
Suhel Seth (third from left) at the book launch. Pic courtesy/@BloomsburyIndia; (right) Tanushree Bhowmik
The domino effect of an inspiring act should not be underestimated, but Tanushree Bhowmik development professional and food researcher, did not expect a personal decision to be supported by others. Bhowmik, who contributed three chapters to The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine including the food of Bengal and Assam, and the antiquity of rice in India, decided not to attend the book release on June 15 in Delhi after she got to know that the event’s panel discussion included Suhel Seth, who faced accusations of sexual misconduct by six women during 2018’s #MeToo movement. She shared reasons for her absence on social media. Bhowmik told this diarist, “We contribute [to the problem] when we overlook what men have been accused of and dismiss what women, as survivors, say.” About the event’s photo (above) that Bloomsbury India tweeted, she shared, “There are four men releasing a book on culinary history, a topic that has been in women’s domain for centuries, which most men won’t touch unless it is on a public domain.” An official response from Bloomsbury India via email was awaited at the time of going to press.
Let’s get inked, dad
A father-daughter tattoo with the dad’s signature. Pic courtesy/Aliens Tattoo
Malad-based tattoo parlour Aliens Tattoo has a unique offer for Father’s Day this Sunday — tribute tattoos for and matching tattoos with dads. Sunny Bhanushali, founder and CEO, shared, “We have arranged special slots and kept some artists available for drop-in customers.” Bhanushali revealed that while such designs should be intimate, there will be experts on hand to offer free consultations for tattoo ideas. “Smaller tattoos can be created in a day, but larger ones might require more time,” he said.
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