Mumbai diary

‘Mumbuy’ festival

Mumbai has always been a favourite destination of traders. Anything and everything sold on the planet can be found in one of the markets of the city, say old-timers. The city’s propensity to make people buy things will be on display during the 20-day-long Mumbai Shopping Festival, which began this week.
The festival offers the opportunity to explore and experience the crafts, culture and food of Maharashtra, apart from exciting shopping experiences over the next three weekends. Night bazaars, where one can sharpen one’s bargaining skills, the best of foods from across the globe, and more than 500 live performances are likely to be the main attractions.

Woman power

Of the 80,000-odd women workers in Indian Railways, 42 took the Matunga railway station in Mumbai to the Limca Book of Records this week. The small yet busy station of the Central Railway has become the first all-women station in India. The station has 17 women handling the commercial and operations department, eight for ticket checking, six from the Railway Protection Force, and two announcers. There are also two conservancy staffers and five point persons, all working under Station Manager Mamta Kulkarni. Incidentally, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been closely associated with Matunga. His father and mother have represented this suburb in the civic body, state legislature and Parliament.

Musical tribute to Dev Anand

With the bustling entertainment industry in the city, Mumbai witnesses several music video release events. Very few of these events are attended by celebrities. One such event last week stood apart from the rest due to the love and dedication that went into the making of the video. Sachin Sawant, a police inspector, is a diehard fan of Dev Anand. His quest to do something different to pay tribute to the late superstar led him to create a music video which is a remake of two famous songs from a Dev Anand starrer movie. Sawant has played Dev Anand’s role in the all-amateur album that is no less in quality than any professional album.

Film on life of India’s most-loved wrestler

Dara Singh was indeed India’s most-loved wrestler. He ruled the wrestling arena as well as the silver screen alike. A biopic on him is likely to be made soon. His son Vindoo revealed recently that a TV channel had come forward with the idea. Dara Singh had more than 500 professional fights to his credit, all undefeated. He also acted in stunt films and produced several Hindi and Punjabi films. The wrestler with the biggest body measurements in India back then had a 53-inch chest. His portrayal of Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan left a lasting impression.

Zakir Hussain’s memories of Abbu

The release of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain’s biography, Zakir Hussain: A Life in Music, at NCPA last week provided an opportunity to his fans to hear him reminisce about his Abbu, the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha Khan. The beauty of the master-disciple relationship between them that was never overshadowed by their father-son relationship very delicately unfolded in his conversation with London-based writer Nasreen Munni Kabir, who helped write the book, and columnist-writer Anil Dharker. “Abbu used to sing rhythms in my ears. I think he wanted me to be a tabla player, but he never imposed it on me,” said the maestro.

Abhijit Mulye

Our correspondent in Maharashtra

abhijit.mulye@gmail.com