SAHAR Airport Road

Model in the first photo. Child in the next. A mother and child from Delhi.

The First India Kids Fashion Week
Meet the Parents

There's truth in what Big B is supposed to have stated. i.e., if he is in the same frame as a child or a cute animal, no one will ever notice him. It was the same story at the first India Kids Fashion Week, except that it was the clothes that were on display that were competing without any success against kids who caught all the attention. That their kids will be noticed was why the hundreds of parents queued up with their children to fight for chance to be on the catwalk. From Moradabad to Bangalore, Bandra to Malwani, parents were all there.

My child cutest.

The child fashion on display was honestly, nothing to write about. This first event of the kind was just testing the economic possibilities of such an event. The parents probably got what they wanted, their child on the catwalk, in Mumbai. In a 5-star hotel. There seem to be enough people who look and dress like they are from the fashion, advertising, TV and film business and I'm sure my child will be picked up to become the next boy to play little SRK or Hritik, Kareena or Katrina.

Grown up kids.

There were some seasoned child artists too. Like Jannat. For her parents it was an event not to be missed. They came from Malwani, in Malad West, with her and the younger brother. Both walked the ramp.

You can differentiate the children who have already faced the lights, flashes, and people around them. Their body language is like adults but they all had a toy or a childish accessory in their hands to reveal their real age. When they open their mouths, they are clearer about their life goals than their parents or so it seems.

The kids who are here for the first time, behave more like kids and look around in wonder.

Jannat and family. Her father is businessman. She and her brothers are successful child actors.

This next family is from a small town in UP. The parents are both doctors. She wants to be a Miss World and walk the ramp when she grows up. She hates heavy make-up and likes to keep it natural. She knows exactly what she wants. The way she talks I'm sure she will convince her parents to shift base to Mumbai or Delhi in a few years.

Do you remember the actor who played SRK's dad in Don? I don't. But they do. At a talent show in Lucknow the man who played that role, gave this girl a prize. A prize that took the family to Delhi for auditions for ads and from there to here, to the Kids Fashion Fashion Week in Mumbai.

And Mumbai is the place to be. This is where you can become a star. Yes, they will shift base here.

Shivering in the surprise Mumbai chill was this Japanese mother, married to an Indian and living in Bangalore. She told us in a Bangalorean English/Japanese accent (she learnt English in Bangalore) that she was here for her daughter who is interested in fashion and wants to be a model when she grows up. She looked a little lost among the other pushy parents because she was unable to find a way to go see the show and watch her daughter walk. And since she was here with her son too, he also walked the ramp for fun.

And finally here's a poster from a stall inside the event tent. Paparazzi shots of famous parents who shield their children from the camera (at least for now) while there are a few hundred parents outside who would punch each other to have a photo of their child published somewhere before they grow up and lose their cute-ness.

This, Mr Don Henley, is the end of innocence, in a Mumbai minute.

Also, only politicians can push their children - kya?

Read the full report in Tehelka by Sunaina Kumar here.

Princess Street Flyover

Bridges of Mumbai : Princess Street Flyover.

An old favourite landmark in Hindi movies.

This song is for Dilshad who wants to take off from this fly-over.

JJ Flyover

Bridges of Mumbai 2: What we fly over. The JJ Flyover.

This design of the bridge and the place underneath is very similar to another bridge or flyover in Bangalore and serves the same purpose - the city market.

Both these places are also the best place to shoot street photographs in these cities - mainly because the people are friendly here and are too busy minding their own business.

See the full bridges of Mumbai Series.

Here's an old photo of the Bangalore City Market flyover.

Mahim Bay

Bridges of Mumbai 1: Sea-Link

Once upon a time,
this city had 7 islands.
Today,
we have 15 million.

Tu tera dekh.

N Bharucha Marg

Ms Hawa Hawai 21st century version : Suman Shridhar.

You can't ignore the songs she's made to sing by Bollywood and the advertising industry. She's the fresh sound of old melodies designed to make you to sit up and listen, love it or leave it.

 

In the world of television advertising, deep pockets are no longer enough to reach out or cut through the clutter. You have the first few seconds of 15 seconds to catch my attention and she did it with the new version of this classic a few years back and in another yuga by advertising standards. And the sad part, the use of remixes is being done to death; it's also become part of the clutter.

But Suman is unlikely to go out of fashion. Like advertising, she comes with deep roots, solid grounding and ideas in music that will rise above fads. Watch out.

Madh Island

This is the wall painting in a fisherman's home in Madh Village.





This is a lid I found on a stove outside in the same lane as the above house.



And here's the inside of one more home.

Interesting. No?

Hamam Street

The footballers of Hamam Street.

Mahim Bay

Mithi's Mouth. City Smell.

It's a blessing that you can't smell photographs yet. But this is where the collective crap of Greater Mumbai carried by our famous river with a sweet name slowly clouds the Arabian Sea while doing a slow dance with the tides.

That is also one reason you find very people coming here to enjoy the beautiful sunsets. This fragrance of ours and the landmines of digested food that the tide is yet to wash.

Mia Md. Chhotani Road (Mahim)

Work Space Mumbai. Needful Things. Winter Collection.

I finally met the man who sells odd things on the footpath opposite the Parsi Colony gate.

His name is Balu, and this is also his home for a very long time. His mother-tongue is Marathi. He picks up stuff which he thinks are interesting from the kachrawallas and displays them. He manages to fill his stomach with it.

These are the images from the previous seasons.

Festival Collection. September

Spring Collection. March



Monsoon Collection - July

See the full Mumbai Work Space Series here.

VAG - Mumbai Metro Railway

Someone named Sonia seems to the No. 1 among the workers who are building our Mumbai Metro East-West corridor. Her name adorns almost all stations from Andheri to Ghatkopar.

Follow the safety rules, boys.

Imamwada Lane, Dongri + Andheri

The Mogul Masijid and the Imamwada street in Dongri is decked up by kite lovers. It's Uttarayan.

Mahim Bay

City of Drummers.

Mumbai probably has the largest number of drummers in the world. Festivals, urs, weddings, processions, rallies, etc. they are out in the streets creating maximum decibels over and above the maximum noise the city produces 24/7. We usually import the best street drummers from Nashik and across Marathwada but our local homegrown are trying to match their beats.

However, no locality in the city will allow them to practice within ear-shot. So they have to find the most difficult thing to find in the city, open space.

City of Drummers. But no space for drummers.

Popular desolate drumming locations:

JVLR. Between SEEPZ and L&T
Wadala: Track between Wadala Junction and King's Circle/GTB
Wadala near IMAX
Mankhurd. Near Salt Pans
Eastern Express Highway Between Ramabai and all the way to Bhandup Pumping Station Bus Stop.

Sam reports:
When you go towards Kalyan on the Central line, you come across a place called Diva. There is a group that practices there and also along the tracks near Dombivli.

Please do let me k now if you have boys drumming away anywhere else. I can add to the list...

Love Lane, Mazgaon

Jai Bhim Comrade - Anand Patwardhan

Anand Patwardhan's latest story 'Jai Bhim Comrade' captures the most important among the thousands of conflicts in India, the fight for equality by the Dalits of Maharashtra and the attitude and the resulting actions of the rest.

It was screened at the BITS Chawl, situated on Love Lane, Mazgaon, behind Byculla Police Station. The compound behind Byculla Station had a big crowd yesterday evening because there was a big Police Van with the pale skinned Bar Girls who were captured in raids last week waiting to go somewhere and everybody there was trying to see how white-white the Bar Girls are.

BITS Chawl, a relatively large chawl, is a short walk from the Police Station and is home to mostly working-class Marathi-speakers. It's supposed to be associated with the Ambedkar movement and its followers but it's infamous for troubles during the Hindu-Muslim riots. The official name of Love Lane is Sheth Moti Shah Marg.

I had no clue about what the film was about and I was surprised by the powerful sound system that was being tuned in preparation for the screening. To avoid getting deaf in one ear, I found seat in the middle and that was the best decision of the evening. Because the film turned out to be a fabulous musical trip.

Jai Bhim Comrade is the story of a Dalit poet-singer Vilas Ghogre, from a Mulund-East slum with a powerful voice, even more powerful words, and an excellent band with simple struments to whip up passions. Many of the words in his poetry, written in the 80s and early 90s are however about an ideal communist paradise which are unattainable.

He committed suicide following the killing of 10 people from Ramabai Colony, adjoining the Eastern Express Highway in 1997 in police firing following the desecration of a Dr Ambedkar Statue. The film follows the case until the conviction of the Police Officer who ordered the firing. But what holds the film together and the attention of the audience are the songs. The poetry that rolls of the lips of ordinary but extraordinary people - the music of the people.

There are more than a few dozen stories in this documentary. You can pick up the threads of each one of them and follow them. The story of the singers, political movements, the Marathi language of the chawls and villages, the propaganda of the left, right and the dalits, the story of money in Mumbai and Maharashtra politics, the living conditions of the ghettos, the comparison of living in a chawl now and a decade back. The stories of individual politicians provide the comic relief. The story of the main caste groups in India and the many stories that are cultivated to mobilise people. The story of neo-buddhism. There's a very interesting story of the Dalit Panther founder - Bhai Sangari using his speeches. There's the story of the threat of godification of Dr Ambedkar caused by his devotees. And then there is the story of Pune's Kabir Kala Manch and their singers. The Indian Rage Against Against The Machine and the odd thing is that they aren't rebels or fighting for anarchy, they are fighting for democracy.



The film is 3 hours long and if you are interested in the subject, you would probably have to watch it another time to pick up the different threads you would've missed.

But the main story remains that of Vilas Ghogre who kills himself. He prefers to do so as a Dalit. You will have to see the film to know how he leaves that message. While the Ramabai Killings and the Dalit cause seems to be the trigger for his action, there are several layers to the story, his as well as the Dalit story, to make him take such an extreme step. Look out for the wedding shots of Vilas' son, years after his death, to provide some of the reasons. And of the main reason for his act and an important story in this film is the story of Mumbai from the 50s to the present from a Dalit perspective.

Jai Bhim Comrade is also Jai Bhim Comrade Mumbaikar.