In the mid-aughts, Mumbai’s Bandra was still in the process of transitioning to its NRI-and-white-expatmagnet-and-hipsterprecinct era, but it was already where restaurants and watering holes came and went with bewildering rapidity. Many of the first wave of discotheques and pubs that launched in Mumbai post-liberalization had downed their shutters for various reasons.
Around then, in 2004, Zenzi opened its doors. And earned a name not for the usual reasons of great cuisine or an exceptional bartender but for the kind of events that happened there. There was music, of course. But no Bollypop or trending chart music: DJs came and did their sets, and soon there was live music too, big names but also experimental acts that went on to be big names, hopeful singer-songwriters standing alone at the microphone, and then poetry, spoken word, comedy, dance, performance.
Killer Stress
Unhealthy work practices in Indian companies are taking a toll on employees, triggering health issues and sometimes even death
Shuttle Star
Ashwini Ponnappa was the only Indian to compete in the inaugural edition of BDMNTN-XL, a new international badminton tourney with a new format, held in Indonesia
There's No Planet B
All Living Things-Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) returns with 72 films to be screened across multiple locations from Nov. 22 to Dec. 8
AMPED UP AND UNPLUGGED
THE MAHINDRA INDEPENDENCE ROCK FESTIVAL PROMISES AN INTERESTING LINE-UP OF OLD AND NEW ACTS, CEMENTING ITS REPUTATION AS THE 'WOODSTOCK OF INDIA'
A Musical Marriage
Faezeh Jalali has returned to the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Runaway Brides, a hilarious musical about Indian weddings
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nikhil Advani’s adaptation of Freedom at Midnight details our tumultuous transition to an independent nation
Family Saga
RAMONA SEN's The Lady on the Horse doesn't lose its pace while narrating the story of five generations of a family in Calcutta
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
Prayaag Akbar's new novel delves into the complexities of contemporary India
TURNING A NEW LEAF
Since the turn of the century, we have lost hundreds of thousands of trees. Many had stood for centuries, weathering storms, wars, droughts and famines.
INDIA'S BEATING GREEN HEART
Ramachandra Guha's new book-Speaking with Nature-is a chronicle of homegrown environmentalism that speaks to the world
