The Arabian Sea leaves behind tonnes of garbage during the high tide in the monsoon on the beaches of Mumbai. This, however, is no deterrent for a warm embrace.
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Satej Shinde/Mid-Day. Courtesy: Mumbai Press Club.
Old colonial houses stand in the shade of tall towers. Sprawling networks of shanties surround swanky high-rises. Tiny, dingy shops are dwarfed by luminescent billboards. Clichéd as it may sound, Mumbai was and remains a city of contrasts – a city where poverty and affluence, the old and the new, the glitzy and the ramshackle, constantly jostle for space next to each other.
It is these contrasts, inextricable parts of the city’s fabric, that figure prominently in the photos selected this year by the Mumbai Press Club as the winning entries for their annual photography competition. Featuring the works of 12 city photographers, the images vividly capture the diverse hues of Mumbai. From a female acrobat of the Cirque du Soleil dangling from the pole of a stage-light to a larger-than-life Ganesha idol being transported through a street, these 13 images depict a city that is perpetually on the move.
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Gurbir Singh, president of the Mumbai Press Club, said this year’s submissions stand out because they aptly capture the oddities of the city. “The photograph of a couple embracing on the filthy Juhu Chowpatty beach represents what a Mumbaikar regularly goes through,” he said.
The 13 photographs will be part of the Mumbai Moments 2019 desktop calendar, a tradition that goes back to 2000. “This is probably the last year we’re bringing out a desktop calendar,” said Singh. “It is a thing of the past. From next year, we’ll move to a new form, probably a wall calendar, which is coming back and gives more visibility.” Initially, around 4,000 copies of the calendar will be circulated across offices in the city.
The themes for the competition have ranged from Ganesh Chaturthi and dahi handi, to the romance of the Mumbai rains and glimpses of the city’s temperate winters. Occasionally though, Singh says, the photographs have been disturbing – “A few years ago, we received a photograph of a man [found hanging from the] Byculla bridge”. While calling for entries this year, candidates were specifically asked to refrain from sending in “gory and disturbing” images.
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The calendar will officially be launched in the third week of December. The photographs will also be exhibited at the Mumbai Press Club for a couple of weeks.
In November, Mumbai hosted the first-ever Cirque du Soleil production to premiere outside of Montreal. The Canada-based Cirque du Soleil is the largest theatrical producer in the world. The cast and crew who performed at the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra came from 50 countries. They included 27 dancers, 22 acrobats, two live musicians, and two Mallakhamba artists who gave the event a local flavour. Photo credit: Azhar Khan/Sopa Images.Members of the Korean Taekwondo demonstration team put up a show at the ‘selfie zone’ opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Photo credit: Deepak Turbhekar/Mumbai Mirror.The Tata Mumbai Marathon, one of the top ten marathons in the world, was held in January. In this photo, thousands of half-marathon participants are seen crossing the Bandra Worli Sea Link around dawn. Photo credit: Dattatray Khedekar/Lokmat.Residents of Malabar Hill celebrate Tripurari Pournima at the Banganga tank. Tripurari Pournima, celebrated on full moon day or the 15th lunar day of the Hindu month of Kartik, is also known as Dev Diwali or the festival of the god of lights. Photo credit: Deepak Salvi/Livephoto.A participant at a long-jump event during the Mumbai Police recruitment drive at Gaondevi Maidan in Thane. Photo credit: Divyakant Solanki/European Press Photo Agency.Dev Mishra, from Begusarai, Bihar, lost his legs in a train accident. That didn't stop him from chasing his dream of becoming a participant in a dance reality show. As seen in this photograph, he practices his moves every day at Carter Road in Bandra. Photo credit: Emmanual Yogini/The Hindu.A portion of the 40-year-old Gokhale Road over-bridge in Andheri collapsed on the railway platforms below in July as heavy rains swept Mumbai. Western Railway workers are seen here trying to clear up the mess and help restore local train services. Photo credit: Imtiyaz Shaikh/Urdu Times.Mumbai is the world’s second most densely populated city and space management is naturally a major problem. The facade of an SRA building near Amar Mahal junction, Ghatkopar, is made brighter by the clothes hung out to dry by residents. Photo credit: Imtiyaz Shaikh/Urdu Times.The mangrove plantations between Belapur and Belpada in Navi Mumbai have been under threat for the last few years. Activists have blamed the threat on the plastic and concrete waste that is dumped illegally in the plantations. In this photo, part of a dead mangrove plantation is captured near the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters, Belapur. Photo credit: KK Choudhary/The Times of India.Members of the Kalachowki Maha Ganapati Mandal carry a 21-foot Ganesha idol from Patra Chawl, Kalachowki, for immersion at Girgaum Chowpatty. For the last 63 years, they have taken the same route for immersion. Photo credit: Sachin Vaidya/Saamna.Asalpha Village, a slum pocket in Ghatkopar, wears a vibrant look after Chal Rang De, an NGO that works to change how Mumbai’s slums look, brought artists and students together to brighten up the walls. Other slum pockets in Mumbai have taken a cue from this project. Photo credit: Sanjay Hadkar/The Times of India.In an attempt to save Rs 5-10 a day on transportation, Mumbaikars stand in a queue for an average of 40 minutes near Vikhroli station during the monsoons to take share autorickshaws. Photo credit: SL Shanth Kumar/The Times of India.