08 May,2025 07:49 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Pic/Satej Shinde
Labourers brave the city's erratic weather to flatten the soil in the Mitha Agar salt pans in Bhayandar
Porpita porpita. PICS COURTESY/NANDINI DUBEY
As Mumbaikars soaked in the surprise pre-monsoon showers, marine life on Juhu Beach must have whispered, âWe told you so!' Just last weekend, naturalist Nandini Dubey had stumbled upon an unusual number of Porpita porpita aka Blue Buttons laid out on the Juhu coast. "It is an elusive sight in Mumbai. For a short period, these organisms become visible in the tidal zones. It is invariably a sign of impending showers. I was leading a walk near Juhu Koliwada early in the morning, when the tide receded and revealed these buttons. I immediately shared the news with the community," shared Dubey, who is now navigating newfound fame as a fortune teller in the city's naturalist circles.
If you thought your Goa plans were exciting, the Bombay Running Crew will give you a run for your money. Beginning on July 25, nearly 30 runners from the city-based group will chart a 580 km-long run from Mumbai to Goa. "We are aiming to complete the run in 57 hours by adopting a relay race format. Split into two teams, we'll alternate between running and travelling," revealed co-founder Priyanca Walanju. The crew will traverse tough terrain passing through grasslands, ghats and city roads over the period of two nights and three days. "A run like this requires intensive training physically and mentally. We begin our three-month training period soon," Walanju informed us. Experienced runners who wish to join the crew's attempt, can reach out to @bombayrunning on Instagram.
As fashion enthusiasts passionately discuss looks from the recently held MET Gala, Mumbaikars had another fashionable revelation closer to home. At a Worli five-star, fourth-generation Savile Row tailor Robert Bailey was on a three-day exclusive trunk show of garments hand-stitched from the lanes of Mayfair in London. "The focus is on personal style and enduring fit, not on what's popular at the moment. We make sure that each suit is tailored to the unique body and proportions of an individual," Bailey told this diarist.
A cat lounges on a reader's lap. PIC COURTESY/CAT CAFE ON INSTAGRAM
Mumbaikars looking for a reading partner are set to find their purr-fect match in Versova soon. Calico Book Club, a new collaborative reading community by storytelling platform Kommune and Cat Cafe Studio will host their inaugural session next weekend. "The café has a limited collection of books donated by patrons. We wanted to give them a new lease of life. If things go well, we hope to build a compact library in the space soon," said team member Lamya Kapadia.
Journalist Rollo Romig's work, I Am on the Hit List (Westland Books), which provides an incisive investigation into the assassination of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, has made it to the shortlist for the Pulitzer Prize 2025. "The book is a gripping tale of Gauri Lankesh's life, her death, the investigation into it, but it is equally a story of the new India," shared Ajitha GS, publisher, Context, at Westland Books.
