Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

Male Gaze
Every bit a picture of traditional masculinity, Suneil Shetty finds company in moutache-bearing masks at the opening of an eyewear boutique at Khar. Pic/Shadab Khan

New York's best, Mumbai's own
Juhu kid Chintan Pandya, the man behind such New York restaurants as Rahi and Adda, has just added another feather to his chef's hat. The New York Times has adjudged Adda Indian Canteen among the 10 best restaurants in the Big Apple. The menu is inspired from his hometown and features dishes such as dahi batata puri, Amul cheese and chilli naan, keema pao and achari chicken tikka, which can be washed down with Thums Up.

Chef Chintan Pandya. Pic/Noah Fecks

Pandya, whose favourite Mumbai restaurants include Konkan Swad in Goregaon, Kailash Parbat in Lokhandwala and New Yorker in Charni Road, says, "The entire motivation behind opening Adda Indian Canteen was based on what I was eating while growing up and the fact that I could not find it in New York. We haven't compromised or modified anything: we serve the way it's supposed to be." Homesick Mumbaikars now have a place to go to, every time they feel out of place.

Son rise
It was a proud moment for Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi when his adopted son, lawyer Amar Lal appeared in court for a 17-year-old rape survivor on Friday. He took to Twitter to share pictures and recall, "I remember the first day he jumped onto my lap as a five-year old. I cannot express my joy at this moment.

This is not an isolated example, though. Ram Kripal, head teacher and deputy manager of Bal Ashram, is another man whom I freed from a stone quarry in 1983. Our head treasurer Laxman Master is somebody I freed from bonded labour in the same year. Today his son is an engineer. These are not ordinary stories but mirrors of our mission."

Peter gets a letter, an open one!
Current players don't always appreciate advice from ex-stars especially when it's passed on via the media. But Australia's middle-order batsman Peter Handscomb could well ring Dean Jones and thank him for his open letter, published in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Saturday.

Peter Handscomb

Jones, now a popular television expert, has done well to motivate the struggling batsman (68 runs in four innings against India) by urging Handscomb to display the same swagger he shows in domestic cricket. At the same time, he warns that Wednesday's Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) could be his last if he doesn't put some big runs on the board.

Jones wants Handscomb to stop reading what social media and the press have to say about him. "We need discipline now more than ever. Stop listening and start doing," wrote Jones. And yes, there's some diet tips thrown in as well for Boxing Day when Handscomb walks out to bat or field: "No sugar, please, in anything you drink or eat, including chewing gum." Jones's Twitter handle is @ProfDeano. He should start thinking of changing it to @DrDeano if Handscomb lights up the MCG next week.

On the road with movie magic
After their first documentary premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2016 to a rousing response and the second one garnered worldwide attention, film-makers Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya were spotted in Kitab Khana on Friday.

When this diarist got a chance to speak to them, Madheshiya said, "Our films are made in an intimate observational style." When asked if another project was on the cards, Abraham shared, "Early next year, we will be filming in the Amazonian rainforest." Let's hope this one, too, makes India proud.

Another history lesson from Pillai?
This diarist happened to run into author Manu S Pillai at a literary do recently, and was surprised at how chatty the bright writer was, despite a tiring day of back-to-back sessions.

Manu S Pillai

Currently shuttling between the UK, where he is pursuing his PhD, and India, where the world of books keeps him busy, the Yuva Sahitya Akademi awardee had our attention when he shared he might soon be working on a collection of essays comprising material that he stumbled upon during research for his books — The Ivory Throne and Rebel Sultans. Not knowing where all those stories would fit best, Pillai thinks another book would well be the answer. We think so, too.

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