The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Atul Kamble
One flew over CSMT
A bird flies solo over the sculptured pediment of the Gothic marvel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Fort
Kyani gets an arty cousin
(From left) The watercolour art work; Kyani & Co and the Jer Mahal building in Dhobi Talao. PICS COURTESY/ADITYA RAJ; Ruchee.heic on Instagram
As the AI-Ghibli trend fades from the Internet’s collective memory, Hayao Miyazaki’s Totoro, Kiki, Kaonashi and Nausicaa made a pitstop at Kyani & Co for a farewell meal. Well, at least in artist Aditya Raj’s (inset) new watercolour attempt. “Artists love to sketch Mumbai’s heritage monuments. But community spaces like these are nothing short of monuments.
The Ghibli touch is a hat tip to one of my earliest inspirations, Miyazaki,” Raj told us. In the detailed artwork, the artist doesn’t forget the iconic Jer Mahal building that houses the café, though we notice that creative liberties have been taken with its original form, which is a corner building. While Kiki zooms past on her broom, Totoro lounges on the balcony above the café, and Kaonashi looks on from a distance. Perhaps they knew better than to step in and mess with an Irani café’s rules.
Special appearances in Kolhapur
A panel from the comic book. PIC COURTESY/VIRAT VILAS PAWAR
City-based criminal advocate and author Virat Vilas Pawar (inset) is making a case for desi representation in science fiction this week. BE Rojgar: Maatiche Rahasya, Pawar’s new comic book series in collaboration with Marathi media collective BhaDiPa, will be an alien action-thriller set in rural Kolhapur. “When the aliens come visiting, why do they always make a beeline to the White House or the London Bridge? The lone alien who seemed to care enough about us was Jaadu from Koi... Mil Gaya (2003),” Pawar quipped.
In the works for more than a year now, the idea will soon see the light of day after the official announcement earlier this week. “Kolhapur is my hometown, and I would always wonder how the agrarian community would use their folk wisdom to tackle such a peculiar situation. The story will resonate with the country’s rural readers,” Pawar added. To keep an eye on when the extra-terrestrials make contact, log on to @virartstudios on Instagram.
Plans for the planet
A team member paints the planter. PIC COURTESY/GRACIAS GRANNY
Earth Day (April 22) will come a tad early to Kharghar this year. Mexican café Gracias Granny’s new initiative will see patrons join forces to plant saplings in the neighbourhood on April 20.
“We will also host the household game, Bingo, with a green twist. All funds raised during the event will be donated to local environmental causes,” said Rashmit Arora (below), co-founder. The café seems to have a green thumb of sorts, if you ask us. Last week, the café had introduced an up-cycled planter made using scrap from their ongoing renovations.
Let’s loiter around
A moment from a previous walk in the city. PIC COURTESY/WHYLOITERCAMPAIGN
Often, we’ve come across women who chose to skip strolling alone after midnight for safety reasons. Challenging this, Neha Singh, founder of the Why Loiter campaign, is conducting a community walk on April 19, where women and queer individuals will chart the journey from Andheri to Goregaon on foot. “The aim of the walk is to reclaim the night and public spaces for women by the simple act of loitering. Women and members of the LGBTQiA+ community find it very refreshing, empowering and liberating to loiter in public spaces without any purpose because this is not considered normal in patriarchal societies. We aim to normalise this sight in public spaces,” she revealed.
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