They see me rollin’
A professional skater gets some ‘air’ as he performs tricks off the ramp during a competition at the Carter Road Skate Park in Bandra
Flutter by Mumbai
Members gather at the first club meeting. Pic Courtesy/Raju Kasambe
The butterflies of Mumbai will fly safer under the wings of the newly formed Mumbai Butterfly Club. Spearheaded by conservationist Dr Raju Kasambe, the club will host talks, camps, and webinars hosted by experts. “You can’t always take city folk to sanctuaries and national parks, but conservation can begin at home, with the abundant butterfly species. The insects are excellent indicators of the health of Mumbai’s ecosystem. You’d do yourself a favour by learning more about them,” Kasambe told us. Those keen to join the club can log on to @mumbaibutterflyclub.
From Mumbai to Paris
Atul Kumar in a moment during his presentation. Pics Courtesy/@artdecoMumbai
It has been a Parisian October for Atul Kumar, founder-trustee of Art Deco Mumbai. Ahead of the Art Deco celebrations in Mumbai next month, Kumar was invited to Paris to speak at the 17th Art Deco World Congress. Speaking to us from Paris on the conclusion of the conference on October 25, he shared, “It is quite a refreshing contrast to Miami two years ago.” The curator also presented a lecture on the city’s own Art Deco heritage. “My presentation looked at how European artists shaped Bombay’s modern identity in the inter-War years. Some came at the invitation of princes like the Holkars of Indore, others as émigrés finding refuge. Together, they created a unique blend of Western modernism that was Indian in spirit, which we rarely talk about today,” he told this diarist.
Seaside canvas story
(From left) A view of the Port House Office building facade before and after the completed mural. Pics Courtesy/@StudioPC
Walk through the shaded avenues of Ballard Estate this weekend, and you might spot something colourful popping into view. Ahead of the International Maritime Week (October 27 to 31), the Port House Office building, just past Customs House in the neighbourhood, sports a new mural that captures the maritime history of the city.
Pankaj Chavan
“The Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) had contacted me to create a mural to refurbish the space ahead of the events planned. In fact, we started quite late because of the extended monsoon this year,” shared Pankaj Chavan, founder, Studio PC, who completed the mural on October 22. Painted over a span of eight days, the 75ft x 20ft mural captures the themes of naval history, sea trade and the role of the port in shaping the history of the city. “The theme was to highlight the importance of the port to the city. So, we tapped into the iconic image of the lighthouse, and the boats coming into port, along with the ship’s wheel as symbolic images. We paired it with the seven islands of Mumbai to make a collage,” Chavan shared.
Through a different lens
An untiled photograph from the exhibition
The PL Deshpande Gallery of the Ravindra Natya Mandir played host to a different group of artistes last weekend. 25 girls between the ages of 13 and 20 participated in a one-day exhibition of their photographs. “The exhibition was the result of a social initiative by the Vacha Charitable Trust. In 2024, they had invited me to help teach photography to these young girls from the low-income families across Kalyan and Vithalwadi,” shared Ameya Kadam, Dombivli resident, and founder, Photography4All.
Ameya Kadam
As part of the workshops, the girls were given cameras to complete particular exercises. “We would ask them to photograph their homes from the viewpoint of a mouse, or photographs from the floor level. The resulting photographs surprised us all,” he said. Armed with new perspectives, the girls now hope to tell more such stories. “I hope this idea leads to more such exhibitions. They have many more stories to tell,” shared Kadam.
