Mumbai Diary: Monday Dossier

Aaradhya Bachchan at her eighth birthday at Jalsa

For a change

Aaradhya Bachchan spotted minus Aishwarya, in the company of father's best friend Bunty Walia, at her eighth birthday party at Jalsa on Sunday. Shah Rukh Khan's son and Riteish Deshmukh's children were her guests. Pic/Satej Shinde

Vishal Dadlani's bit on mental health

A stand-up comedy show recently saw the likes of Taapsee Pannu and even Shashi Tharoor try their hand at cracking people up with their witty jokes. But musician Vishal Dadlani used his time on stage to talk about something he posts about frequently - the importance of paying attention to mental health - citing his own experience with anxiety. And now, his inbox is filled with fans thanking him for talking about the issue on the show. While one person said she felt relieved that it was okay to talk about going through this, another said that hearing Dadlani open up about going to a therapist gave him the courage to book an appointment with one. Another wrote, "Thanks for normalising mental health conversations and killing the stigmas [or at least initiating it]. The entire episode actually helped as a meta study for understanding and distinguishing pressure from other variants." Dadlani, on his part, said, "I hope people find their way of dealing with all of it, whether through therapy or whatever works for them. Saying it is step one. Some of us get to talk about our lives on public platforms, and that becomes therapeutic in itself, to a degree. I don't know if I got the comedy right, but it sure looks like we did a little bit of what we had hoped to do with this bit. It's a big win in my books."

Accounting problems

Mumbai model Rajashree Singha, who has walked the ramp for top designers in India and abroad, had a rude awakening during a visit back home to Sivasagar in Assam, when she spotted a fake account which was using her picture on Instagram. The admin of the account, which has over 23,000 followers, has uploaded more than 100 posts and even more stories, all of which are quite detailed, and many people have also wished Singha on her birthday on the fake account instead of the real one. It even has a link to a modelling agency through which clients can supposedly contact Singha. The model posted about it, requesting people to report the account. It also seemed like a recurring problem as she added that this person was "back". Cybercrime unit, are you listening?

A culinary party for Prateek

The most massive dinner on earth is a Marwari wedding. Don't hype please," a user wrote on one of chef Prateek Sadhu's recent posts. It's funny, but what's this all about? The Grand Gelinaz Shuffle. A 700-hour long global event featuring 148 chefs and 2,200 recipes, of which Sadhu is now
a part. How it works is that the chefs swap their recipes and each participant is allotted dishes created by a peer through a secret lottery. They then re-imagine these recipes and make a big
grand party out of it, which in the case of Sadhu's restaurant, Masque, will take place on December 3. Will it be bigger than a Marwari wedding? Time will tell.

London calling

Indian fashion designer Samant Chauhan will be taking his new collection to London this weekend. Called Starry Night, the clothes have been inspired by Van Gogh's art, which Chauhan is a fan of, and stand out because they are part of an all-black collection. "The name also has to do with the fact that in Van Gogh's time, one could see the stars clearly, but now, you have to drive out of the city to get a clear view, which is relevant considering what's happening in the capital today," Chauhan told this diarist.

The kids are booked

Publishers seem to be finding new ways to draw readers' attention especially when it comes to young minds. Even better when it has something to do with the environment. We came across one such initiative called Red Panda by Westland-Amazon. It will include the publication of a range of children's books for different age groups where they hope to share about this rare species. "There are less than 10,000 Red Pandas left in the wild in India, primarily in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Our books will carry snippets and factoids about endangered Indian species in an attempt to spread awareness and combine storytelling with information - a key tenet of our publishing for children," its publisher Vidhi Bhargava said. And we're certainly looking forward to its new titles in January 2020. Among them is, Happy Birthday, World!, a picture book by Ruskin Bond, along with artist Maya Ramaswamy.

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