Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier

Scrap bookAgainst a pile of cars to be scrapped two young men catch their breath at Kashmira Junction Mira RoadWhen Greigy amp Co scored lsquocenturiesrsquoTony Greig PicGetty ImagesThe England cricket team have a heavy summer After hosting New Zealand for a twoTest series which went the visitorsrsquo way their fiveTest series against India will begin at Trent Bridge on August 4 The Indian batsmen led by skipper Virat Kohli have tortured sides over the last couple of years but they will do well to notch up some big runs against Joe Rootrsquos team Probably this is the English summer which will witness even taller scores by the Indians If this happens the runs column in the bowling analysis of the English bowlers wonrsquot be pretty just like they were in 1973 We stumbled upon the Lordrsquos Test match scoresheet of that year to notice that Rohan Kanhairsquos West Indies team massacred the English bowling to score 6528 declared in their only innings of the game Kanhai Garfield Sobers and Bernard Julien carved memorable centuries and all five England bowlers scored lsquocenturiesrsquo Geoff Arnold 0111 Bob Willis 4118 exciting allrounder Tony Greig 3180 Derek Underwood 0105 and captain Ray Illingworth 1114 No wonder England lost by an innings and 226 runsDedicating her 18th to foodVibha Batra is on a roll The author advertising consultant poet lyricist translator travel writer playwright and columnist is on her way to releasing her 18th book Shortly after her grandfather passed away she decided to translate his work and began with her favouritemdashIshaavaasya Upanishad Gyan aur Karmmdasha book that combined philosophy mysticism spirituality The 43yearold author tells this diarist ldquoFourteen years and eighteen books later I feel beyond excited for my latest release Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef Scholastic India The book is very close to my heart and erm tummy Because itrsquos about my favourite thing in the world Food Dessert EatingrdquoIntroducing responsible cottonDesigner Priyal Turakhiarsquos collection reuses water bottles incorporated with organic cotton from KutchHow do you bring climate action to fashion Priyal Turakhia winner of Fashion Forward Fellowship has found a way Her collection Could Be by Nirantar reuses water bottles and cosmetic product bottles incorporating them with handwoven organiccotton from Kutch The designs also take on a zero dyeing approach to address the excessive waterpollution rampant in the fashion industry Turakhia says it is inspired from the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi the art of repairing broken pottery ldquoThe Fashion Forward Fellowship by YWater and The ReFashion Hub has been a comprehensive learning experiencerdquo says Turakhia who has worked with local artisans in Siliguri West Bengal to bring her collection to life ldquoThe opportunity to learn from the experience of some great entrepreneurs in the sustainable fashion industry has helped me prepare better for the challenges that lie ahead in starting a sustainable fashion businessrdquoWhatrsquos the story behind the faceRamawati Rawat an agricultural labourer cattle rearer homemaker from Sadamau BakshikaTalab Lucknow UP PicRana TiwariAn ambitious initiative by the Peoplersquos Archive of Rural India PARI aptly named FACES intends to map the facial and occupational diversity across rural India as well as people like migrant labourers who are rendered invisible in the urban pockets of the country The ongoing project aims to document portraits of at least one adult male one adult female and one child or adolescentmdashalong with their age occupation and other detailsmdashfrom the 10000odd blocks across the 640 districts of India The attempt is also to gather their personal stories ldquoA majority of the people in our country work in the unorganised sector which is extremely unreported underrecorded and not categorised So it was very necessary for us to understand their livesrdquo shared Kanika Gupta editor of the FACES sectionA Michelin Star for kindnessAs the Tokyo Olympic Games are held in the shadow of COVID19 the mind rolls back to 1994 This diarist was in Hiroshima reporting on the 1994 Asian Games for this paper The press from different countries were staying at designated press hotels The chef of the restaurant where this writer had breakfast daily for the duration of the Games sent out two Japanese dolls as a farewell gift as the Games ended in October The silk attire of those dolls has faded with time one of them is missing an eye and they look worn out after 27 years Yet still preserved by yours truly they always bring a smile to the face and are a reminder of a chef who earned a Michelin Star for his kindness