Celebrating Bandra! Author spins a yarn, dancers set stage on fire

Mumbai: On Sunday, visitors to the Celebrate Bandra festival got a chance to interact with writer Ashwin Sanghi, who is best known for his historical and mythological thrillers. At the Talkietive Literature Session at Pioneer Hall, author and journalist Priyanka Sinha Jha interviewed Sanghi about his journey as a writer, how he picked his pseudonym Shawn Higgins—it’s an anagram of his name—and his love of finding historical gaps where conspiracy theories can flourish.


Sanghi credited his grandfather for his love of books. His ‘nana’ sent him a book every week throughout his childhood in exchange for a letter from Sanghi explaining what he liked and didn’t like about the book. “It was the earliest form of a book review,” said the author.

But the day started long before the session with Sanghi. Day two of the festival was kicked off at 7am with a five-aside football match at

St Andrews

Turfpark. This was followed by a green treasure hunt and a Bandra heritage walk-,which covered the remains of the old Portuguese Castella de Aguada fort, Mount Mary Church and quaint East Indian ‘gaothans’ like Ranwar Village.

The evening saw theatrical productions like ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, ‘Dhumrapaan’ and ‘#SingIndiaSing’ as well as dance performances by Swapnokalpa, an Odissi dance troupe, and a

Kathak

presentation by Durga Arya and group. There was also a lavani performance in traditional as well as contemporary style along with narratives about this art form. Music lovers got to enjoy the Indian Navy Symphonic Band and a performance by

Parvaaz

, a contemporary Indian music band.

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