Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Pic/Shadab Khan

Steely resolve

Workers inspect the steel girders of the ongoing Coastal Road Project at Marine Drive.

Paint for a cause

Students paint the walls of the college

Sophia College's walls got a splash of colour and a lot of awareness over the weekend. Initiated by Ujaas, a platform that aims at promoting menstrual health and awareness, 150 students gathered to create murals that advocated menstrual health and hygiene to commemorate Human Rights Day on December 10. "On this day, it is imperative to address the pervasive myths and challenges surrounding menstrual health," Advaitesha Birla, founder of Ujaas, told this diarist. Now, that's what we call leaving a mark.

Add colour to your words

Rahul Saini and Sakshi Lunkad at the newly opened art space

In a first of its kind workshop, city-based book club PaperBackTrails has collaborated with Khar's new art space Hue by SLA for Kitab aur Kala on Sunday. "We will discuss a Christmas-themed book and add a colourful twist towards the end," said Rahul Saini, founder of the book club, "I wanted to introduce something new to reading as a club that makes it more hands-on," After discussing the book of the month, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Saini with Hue founder Sakshi Lunkad will allow participants to paint their own bookmarks that go best with the book's theme. "There are many templates, including Van Gogh's The Starry Night," he added.

How Mario made school cooler

The artworks by Mario de Miranda in the school; (right) students near one of the famous arches

Few iconic cartoonists have immortalised Mumbai's soul as well as the late Mario de Miranda did. However, this diarist (like many others, we're sure) agrees that apart from his murals at Cafe Mondegar, there's not much of it in public view. The Cathedral & John Connon Middle School is one of the few spaces that showcases his art. Today, on his death anniversary, an anecdote shared by Brinda Somaya, conservation architect and founder, SNK Consultants, who restored the building (1991-94), makes for a timely recall. These panel sizes were designed to fit within the ground floor arches in the building. Somaya had approached Miranda at his residence in Mumbai, to discuss these panels during the restoration. "Mario was kind and generous, and willingly agreed to create the panels. He also said that he would not charge any fee for this artwork since his sons had been enrolled in the Cathedral School," she reminisces.

Miranda took a few weeks to complete it and had supervised the entire execution. When Somaya had checked if the completed panels would have to be protected with clear transparent covers, he replied that no protective cover would be needed, assuring her that if the panels were damaged by students, he would revisit the school, and repair the damage," she added. The next time you enter the campus, do catch a glimpse of his genius.

Shoreline warriors

People help a whale washed ashore. Pic Courtesy/Maharashtra forest department

Last week, 40 environmentalists addressed the threat that marine fauna face at a one-day long workshop organised by Mangrove Foundation and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in Airoli. "There have been regular incidents of marine mammals getting stranded [including blue whales and sharks] along the Maharashtra coastline. Between 2020 and 2021,109 incidents of stranding were recorded, of which 27 animals washed ashore were dead. This trend is rising. Hence, we conducted the workshop," shared Dr Rahul Khot, deputy director of BNHS, who spoke on the stranding of marine megafauna. BNHS director Kishore Rithe added, "All the agencies [present] have decided to act upon policy decisions discussed in the workshop. We hope to see specific actions in this regard soon."