The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Dean Jones
Big Merv and brave Jones
A new book arrived on our desk the other day: Dean Jones' Cricket Tips (the things they don't teach you at the Academy). The bracketed part of the title, published by Westland, is a good selling point, but it's true to an extent because the tips are explained in an anecdotal way, spiced with caricatures.
Dean Jones
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Of the many stories in this 85-page paperback is the fascinating one about Jones, the former Australia batsman (who is best known in India for his television commentary and a double century in the 1986 Tied Test at Chennai), asking his then roommate and fellow Victorian Merv Hughes to let loose some bouncers in the nets as he prepared for a Test match in Perth in the late 1980s.
Hughes didn't want to bowl in that fashion on the dangerous practice pitches of Perth so he turned Jones down. "Merv, just do as you're bloody told," roared Jones, determined to get some practice on hard, bouncy tracks. At the nets in Perth, Hughes obliged with a vicious bouncer that hit Jones on the badge of his helmet and the young batsman was rendered unconscious. "I told you I would kill you," exclaimed Hughes, and he was never asked to bowl bouncers again by Jones.
Authentically local
The newest entrant in the romance fiction genre is someone every Mumbaikar can take inspiration from. Mumbai-based financial services professional Isha Inamdar (28), whose debut novel True Liars (HarperCollins India) released last week, penned the novel in two months flat. What surprised this diarist, however, was the fact that the book was written on Mumbai's local trains, while Inamdar travelled from Vasai to Bandra.
Isha Inamdar
"As the commute took most of my time, I thought why not use those spare hours daily," she said. Inamdar is now working on her second book. Look out for her on your next local ride.
A date with the gallery
The ongoing William Gedney show at The Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS, has become the space for some lovely interactions over the last couple of weeks. Last evening, the University of Chicago's Alumni Club of India partnered with the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation for a walk-through of the the master's photographs of Benares and Calcutta (as we knew them in the 20th century) to discover street photography.
The University of Chicago's Alumni Club of India at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery
But, that's not all. In a rather offbeat but wonderful engagement, the gallery hosted a similar walk-through for young professionals from Floh, a singles' networking site. The idea, we hear, is to get singles to interact in different situations and see what clicks. We believe that Gedney might just have played Cupid out there.
Masaba gets her wit on
Designer Masaba Gupta is no stranger to speaking her mind. And on her second wedding anniversary with producer Madhu Mantena, she put up a hilarious Instagram picture that's shows a big-bottomed lady sitting on the squashed face of a man.
Masaba Gupta
The witty caption wished her husband, Madhu, a happy anniversary and said that now that she was done being docile, she "can't wait to sit on your face for the next leg of our marriage". She also smartly attacked a newspaper by saying only true love can outlast "blind items".
Her celebrity friends (Sonam Kapoor) and 3,828 people are cracking up on a post that just makes us applaud the plucky young lady even more.
Photo call
If you cannot go to the New York Film Academy, it will come to you. The prestigious institute has opened its first branch in the city in a sprawling skyscraper in Lower Parel and has welcomed their first batch. The academy will be offering two short-term courses — an eight-week filmmaking workshop and a four-week acting workshop. Kitty Koo, NYFA vice president, and president Michael Young will be heading the Mumbai branch.
New York Film Academy in Lower Parel
"Mumbai is an epicenter for world cinema and we are proud to bring our innovative film and acting programmes here. We look forward to teaching a whole new generation of Indian filmmakers and actors," said Young.
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