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Get into a ‘curator se charcha’ at Bhau Daji Lad Museum

Photographer Pa Madhavan invites Mumbai to discuss his curated exhibition ‘The Whole World is My World, Humanity is My Fraternity’.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla is currently hosting the wonderful photography exhibition, ‘The Whole World is My World, Humanity is My Fraternity’, which is a collection of works by 20 artists. This exhibition is the result of a worldwide ‘Call For Entries’ by FOCUS Photography for photographers to submit work on the festival’s theme. Photographers were invited to explore, investigate and visualise the ‘cultural crossover’ that has given rise to new forms of hybridisation and homogenisation of culture. Works of 20 selected photographers from around the world are on display, chosen by an international jury comprising of London-based photographer Suki Dhanda, Indian artist, writer, activist and curator Sunil Gupta, photographer Isaac Pereira and photographer and Founder of Ojo de Lata, Karlo Sosa.

Focus Festival 2015The exhibition is curated by Pa. Madhavan, Founder of the Wanted Series and Executive Director of the Goa Centre for Alternative Photography.

In an interesting twist, Madhavan invites Mumbaikars coming to the exhibition to sit down and have a chat with him about the photographs on display. He says, “You can find me sitting in the corner quietly reading a book on Mahatma Gandhi. You are most welcome to take a seat next to me. We exchange cards, introduce ourselves and ….let’s start the charcha.” He will talk to visitors about his kind of curation and photography, the philosophy behind the curation and his understanding of photography. “At the same time I would like to hear about their kind of photography and their understanding about the images in the exhibition. We may disagree, debate and confront each other,” he says.

He also invites visitors to walk around the gallery with him and talk about the images.

The exhibition is only only till Thursday, March 26, till 3 pm.

(Picture courtesy en.wikipedia.org)

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Aarey says ‘Bachao!’

An RJ with Radio City writes about her station’s ongoing campaign to save Mumbai’s prized green lung – Aarey colony.
Archana Paniaby Archana Pania

Mumbai has two sacrosanct areas that are green covers of the city, Mahim Nature Park and Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The third could have would have been Äarey Forest, but too many have settled in, tried to make it a residential area, while forest retreat hotels have been built therein and very little has been done to maintain the sanctity of the park.

Since its high connectivity to the western suburbs and Powai, the idea of making it pivotal to the real estate agents who look for lands like vultures look for rodents, Aarey is being eyed as the next hub for commercial office space generation, a large residential base and the Metro Phase III shed to be built into!

At the Radio City morning show ‘Kasa kai Mumbai’, we are huge supporters of progress in Mumbai and we want the city to converted into a world class city – but not at the cost of losing the green lungs of the city! “If Aarey colony’s 2,000+ trees are cut, I am going to leave Mumbai!” said one of our listeners! Hence, if we don’t raise our voices in support of  the trees now, we shall lose the most bio-diverse green cover Mumbai has.

Jackie Shroff, singer Shaan, Dia Mirza and many eminent personalities are all for green cover in Mumbai, and it’s time we show respect to nature, as opposed to ‘development’ in the name of progress and take the green cover away. Singer, lyricist, actor, composer Piyush Misra said “A sign of a progressive city is their parks…closer to home, there is Chandigarh or Hyde Park in London…”

Yes, we lost parts of Mulund and the Powai forest to builders, but the least we can do is save whatever is left and help make a clean and green Mumbai – but this seems only to be a text on hoardings, rather than a movement in action!|

Hence, ‘Radio City ki Treety’ is a campaign where a lot of commoner, where our radio jockeys, Sucharita, Sudarshan, Rohitvir and Gaurav, apart from others, extended their audio signatures on our TREEty!

Join in today, Mumbai. Log on to www.saveaarey.org or simply go to their Facebook page (saveaarey) and make your intent heard. We want our children to carry school bags to school, not oxygen cylinders!

Archana Pania hosts the morning show ‘Kasa kai Mumbai with Salil and Archana’ on Radio City 91.1 along with RJ Salil Acharya. She has been actively campaigning for the cause of saving Aarey. 

What do you want to do to save Aarey? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Participate: The ‘Make it happen’ photo contest

The US Consulate, Mumbai, is observing Women’s History Month with an online photo contest for Indians, till March 15, 2015.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The International Women’s Day is coming up soon (on March 8), but for the US Consulate, Mumbai, the festivities have already begun. The US Consulate, Mumbai is celebrating Women’s History Month all through March with an online photo contest on the theme ‘Make It Happen.’

As per the contest rules, you have to send your photo taken in India, celebrating the roles and accomplishments of women on any one of the contact coordinates (listed at the bottom of this article),
The photo must be an original one, which shows how women can have a positive influence on their families, neighborhoods, communities, country, and the world. The shot must be an action one, celebrating women’s achievements and highlights the important role they play. Photos need to be the original work of the contestants, and to be shot in India within the past two years.

The contest is open to Indian nationals residing in the five states of the Consular district: Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Once a photo is submitted, it is considered a final submission and may not be modified or edited, or replaced. Contestants may submit no more than five photos, and only one photo will be eligible for a prize. Look up www.facebook.com/mumbai.usconsulate/events for full contest rules and submission guidelines.

Send your entries email to MumbaiPublicAffairs@gmail.com or via Twitter to @USAndMumbai using the hashtag #MakeItHappenPics. The contest has already commenced and will close at 23:59 pm on March 15, 2015.

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Sula Fest 2015: A roundup

Nashik rocked – like it annually does – as it hosted the Sula Fest, its wine, food and music jamboree.
by Salil Jayakar | @Salilicious on Twitter

All roads from Mumbai led to Nashik over the weekend where Sula Vineyards was hosting Sula Fest – its annual wine, food and music jamboree. Naturally, the mood among the revelers was quite high what with all the free flowing wine.

But among the usual wine and cheese tasting tours, the music and the food, here’s our pick of the unusual and interesting…

SulaFest 2015_Prahlad Kakkar at B & BBQEveryone’s favourite ad man Prahlad Kakkar (seated at extreme left in pic) caught us quite by surprise as he deftly took orders and dished out plates of vegetarian and chicken biryani at the food court! The ad man popped up a stall for his office cook who has been making meals for him for the past 40 years. “My cook makes the best biryani. Till some years ago, we had an open house in my office every Saturday where we’d feed 15 to 20 people,” he said.

We were thrilled to see winemaker Hardys at Sula this year who came on board as wine partner. As we sampled their reds and whites with Thai prawns curry and veg ravioli, we got chatting with Mumbai girl Najeshda Deshpande, Sula’s import manager. Born and raised in Vile Parle, Najeshda’s (means ‘Hope’ in Russian) love affair with wine began on a holiday in Australia. “I was done with number crunching and didn’t quite know what to do next. I made friends with wine-making surfers and here I am today,” she told us. You go girl!

Celebrity chef Saransh Goila (in pic on right) who’s quite the regular now at all such dos kept us quite entertained over the two-days we hung out with him. The Cecilia Oldne, Global Brand Ambassador & Head - International Business, Sula Vineyards with Chef Saransh Goilareality TV star is all set to release his first book, a travelogue with recipes from his travels. The 70,000-words tome should be an exciting read, we hope. “My favourite author Ruskin Bond kindly consented to write a few words for me in the book. I’m thrilled!” said Saransh.

By far the biggest draw on Day 1 at Sula Fest was the American indie rock band Young the Giant with the ‘desi’ connect. Lead singer Sameer Gadhia, half-Gujarati and half-Bengali, was studying Human Biology at Stanford before he dived headlong into the music scene. With performances at the Video Music Awards a few years ago and a Top 50 appearance on the Billboard 200 albums chart, this desi boy had the girls swooning.

Chief winemaker Ajoy Shaw took us on a tour of the Sula cellars and we came away quite impressed with their sustainability efforts. The cellar has skylights to let in natural light and also has two entire roofs with solar panels that provide almost 15 per cent of their electricity requirements. With rainwater harvesting, composting, spot application at vineyards and encouraging natural predators, Sula’s green efforts are quite commendable. “Our aim is to reduce our water consumption by 5 per cent every year and do our bit to conserve natural resources,” he said.

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Fathers and sons, pad up for this tourney

South Mumbai gaming lounge is currently running an 8-over cricket tourney for fathers and sons, a wonderful grand prize awaits.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

In a city starved of space for children and adults to play in, and with our hectic lives making even daily conversation possible, this is a great opportunity for some familial bonding.

The Lower Parel-based Smaaash gaming lounge is currently running ‘The Father and Son Cricket Tournament’ till January 31, 2015. Already, the tournament has drawn in huge numbers, with even celebrities trooping in to play cricket with their sons.

What’s more, the perfect father-son duo will get to meet cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

All you have to do is form a father-son team, play in the relevant age categories and get a chance to meet Sachin. Over the course of the month, top teams will be identified and will be selected for the grand prize. These will include the top 3 scoring father-son pairs from each age category. The tournament involves a 6-over match at Smaaash Cricket.

Age categories include Under 10, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16

Head to Smaaash, Kamala Mills Compound, Gate No 4, Lower Parel. There is a registration fee of Rs. 800 for 8 overs (2 overs are for practice and 6 overs are counted as tournament). Call 022 4914 3143 for details.

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Mumbai students cook up a (solar) storm

Bandra played host to various Mumbai school children who participated in a collective cooking event using just a solar oven.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Children love to cook, especially when presented with a challenge. Throw noodles into the mix, and they are guaranteed to have fun.

Yesterday, hundreds of Mumbai schoolchildren participated in the ‘Maha Surya Kumbh’, a solar cooking event held at Bandra. The participants included physically challenged children as well. The children prepared noodles using a solar oven.

Maharashra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao inauguarated the event, and called upon housing societies and industrial establishments to switch over to solar power and help save conventional power.

The Governor also tasted some of the noodles prepared by the children. The event was organised by Bandra BJP MLA Ashish Shelar as part of ongoing efforts to promote the use of solar power among chidren.

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