While he was sleeping

A hawker naps while a couple sitting across him enjoy a candid moment at Marine Drive

Sabnani is back in Annecy

Last weekend, animation filmmaker, illustrator and educator Nina Sabnani (below) got a surprise — she was selected as a jury member among 18 other judges from across the globe for France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which is scheduled to begin on June 9. Sabnani, who will be in charge of judging TV and commissioned films, finds the news hard to believe, “I first went to Annecy in the 1980s as a student when my film, Shubh Vivah was being screened in the non-competitive section. It was a surreal experience to be in the presence of several international filmmakers. To be invited now as a jury member is an honour!”

Humour is in the air

Manik Mehta with a fighter plane in 2000

For his upcoming fly-by over the city, Commander Manik Mehta, Indian Navy (Retired), will be dropping truth bombs and hoping his jokes land in a room full of Navy officers in Colaba this weekend. The ex-fighter pilot-turned stand-up comedian has spent the last five years honing his comedic skills post his retirement.

A moment from Mehta’s previous show 

“I always had a knack for writing jokes. When I watched comedian Azeem Banatwalla perform live in 2015, it sparked the idea of taking my material to the stage,” Mehta shared over a call from Nashik. Mehta’s jokes often delve into the experiences and humour behind life in the Armed Forces. “The jokes don’t always land and sometimes, even irk a few. But with practice, I have mastered the art of getting a laugh out of the toughest audiences,” he told this diarist.

QR to the rescue

The QR code identification pendants 

Project Chetna founder Akshay Ridlan (inset) launched a QR code identification pendant last year after the news of a close friend’s father going missing filled him with concern. Less than a year later, last week on April 11, Ridlan’s efforts came to fruition. “I was at work when I received a call from the Colaba Police Station about a young specially-abled boy who was found wearing the pendant. We accessed his identification data and he was reunited with his family in Worli within 30 minutes,” Ridlan shared, adding that this incident was the first of its kind in the last six months. The QR code can be generated by visiting projectchetna.in and filling a form with the basic identification and caretaker information of the individual.

When children reimagine heritage

The plan for the ride

An amusement park ride to be built atop Rajabai Clock Tower. As believable as it may sound given the ongoing slew of revamp projects in Mumbai, this suggestion is one of the many that popped up at a heritage workshop conducted by Alisha Sadikot, heritage educator, for kids at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum last weekend. Kids were handed images of heritage sites and asked to reimagine them with a focus on accessibility.

Participants at the museum

Among the many ideas were recommendations for more signages, doing away with the fencing around sites like The Gateway of India, and planting trees along the promenade. “What is heritage if we cannot access it? We see these structures from a distance but never from close quarters. We need to strike a balance between access and protection, Surprisingly, the children seemed to understand it,” Sadikot told this diarist.

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Readers on site at the 40th session

There’s a new migration underway at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Mumbai’s silent reading community SGNP Reads has found a new riverside spot in the forest. While you could credit the city’s unforgiving heat for the mini-migration, the special session along the banks of the Dahisar River was hosted last Sunday to mark 40 sessions of the community. “We always marvelled at the beauty of the waterfront within the park and some of us tried it out as a reading spot and loved it. It offered everything: a stunning view of the serene river, gorgeous laburnum trees sprinkling yellow flowers, water fowl in the river, and a perfectly peaceful breezy spot. So, it seemed an apt choice for a special spot for our special milestone session,” Amanda D’Souza, its co-founder, told this diarist.

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