Mumbai Diary: Girgaon chawl, a Charlie musical, a cricket museum visit and a chef's school guests

This instalment of Mumbai Diary brings several small stories from different corners of the city. It begins at the historic Keshavji Naik Chawl in Girgaon, where a senior citizen was seen resting on his chair in the corridor.

If you spot a few Oompa Loompas wandering in Tardeo, do not be surprised. They may be members of the Piano 88 Academy team, rehearsing for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", to be staged at the Aditya Birla Theatre on November 1. Shivani Patel, co-founder of the academy, said, "The cast is presenting the entire musical with 30 children aged seven to 13." The preparations involve a grand piano, a ukulele and lines from Dr Seuss. It is one way of reaching the Golden Ticket.

At Kahani Tree in Prabhadevi on October 24, children entered the dramatic world of Bracchio (HarperCollins). The event was held with Chennai-based author Venkataraghavan Srinivasan, who has received the National Literature Festival (NLF) fellowship for children's book writers. He told the writer of this diary, "The event had a fun reading of the book, along with interactive games such as costumes, props, sound effects and a Bracchio ball, in which the children who came took part." Srinivasan enjoyed it greatly.

Now to the students of Balmohan Vidyamandir in Dadar. Devendra Prabhudesai, curator of the Sharad Pawar Cricket Museum of the Mumbai Cricket Association, casually mentioned to Sandeep Patil that children from his old school, Balmohan Vidyamandir, were visiting the museum at Wankhede Stadium. Patil was a student of the 1973 batch. He said at once that he would like to come and meet the children, and made time before catching a Friday afternoon flight. Patil, known as "Sandy", had also visited the museum two weeks earlier. Fifty-nine Class IX students came with five teachers. They were delighted to meet Patil and to see the rich history of Mumbai cricket on display at the museum. The museum team was moved, and so were the children.

Finally, chef Pooja Dhingra. Some chefs go back to school, and for some the school comes to them. Early last week, a team from the renowned Paris culinary school Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) visited her cafe in Fort.

Dhingra told the writer of this diary, "I have gone back to school many times and given demos there too. Some people from LCB Paris and the India team came to our cafe, Pardon Our French. It was for one of their programmes, which has 40 students who want to become chefs. The aim was to talk to young chefs and answer their questions."