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Victoria

Mumbaikars cannot go home after work these days.

They have too many new things to do. The Mumbai Festival is on, with simultaneous happenings downtown and in the suburbs. Music, theatre, folk art, craft, food and much, much, more. That's what's on offer. And corporate India is lapping it up with sponsorships ranging from the likes of Coke, Zoom and Orange to the Mahindra group and the HDFC group. Everybody has chipped in to make the debut of the Mumbai Festival a real humdinger.

The Gateway of India makes a fabulous backdrop for live music and dance shows and the mild nip in the air gives the illusion of one vast air-conditioner at work. The pleasant weather is enough to send Mumbaikars scurrying to get their cashmere cardigans and pashmina shawls out of the mothballs and give them an annual airing.

The entire stretch of road between Regal cinema and the Gateway of India has been set up to serve dry snacks, made-to-order cookies and the like. Proceeds go to local NGOs. The stretch has been appropriately branded "Heartwarming." The Priyadarshni park in tony Napean Sea Road hosts a giant exhibition called Oceanic. Supposedly, six km of wiring and several tonnes of beach sand, plus thousand of shells, form a part of the spectacular showing.

The shopping festival includes raffles where a host of prizes are waiting to be won. These include international holidays, diamonds, watches and cars. Apparently thousands of retailers are participating in this mega promotion. There's even a contraption that allows you to light up the VT Station (Chatrapati Shivaji station now) yourself. A great draw for anyone.

If things keep going the way they are, the Dubai Shopping Festival better change its dates. Mumbai's rocking and the world's most inveterate shoppers are right here where the action is.

Kala Ghoda

As if the Mumbai Festival was not enough, the Kala Ghoda Festival, an annual event, is happening in the old heritage precinct of Mumbai. Here too, the fare is similar. After all, you can't have enough of a good thing. As the McDonald's advertisement would say, "I am loving it."

Marathon mania

And in case you thought Mumbaikars were only into absorbing art by the wayside and stuffing their faces with street food, the Mumbai Marathon was enough to warm the cockles of the most cynical person in the world. "Run Mumbai Run" was the exhortation, and Mumbai did not let them down.

Over 20,000 citizens turned out to run the marathon. Some ran, some walked, some showed off, but they mostly did it for the spirit of the affair, and that's what made it all so special.

From every celebrity (Bollywood stars, business people, glitterati or chatterati) to the old, the infirm and the just plain enthusiastic, they all turned up. And to watch them, and cheer them on, were thousands and thousands of people lining the streets. Standard Chartered has really hit upon a great sponsorship property. And it's growing.

Even Essar, which was the co-sponsor, and was probably wondering if it had done the right thing in playing second fiddle here, was properly noticed, at least on Marathon Sunday. It should motivate other corporates to quite simply extend the great idea and build great branding properties for themselves. I am sure people in Chennai or Bangalore are waiting to run a marathon.

Pune chalo

So what were the likes of Prem Mehta and Balki (Lowe), Nagesh (Shoppers' Stop), Harit Nagpal (Hutch), Arun Firodia (Kinetic), Hemang Savla (Benzer), Ramesh Narayan (Canco) and A. G. Krishnamurthy (ex-Mudra, now Reliance) doing in Pune?

A little bird tells me that these gentlemen chose to give the marathon a detour and trot across all the way to wintry Pune on a Sunday to accept awards for marketing excellence from the Indira Group of Institutes which runs several educational institutes in the city. And you thought Balki does not like award functions, and A. G. Krishnamurty was invisible (Mohammed Khan said that, not me).

Well, so what if they did not enter the marathon? To twist a popular advertising line, "We'll run a mile to get an award." Or even all the way to Pune. Anyway, congrats to the Indira Institute for pulling off a real coup.

And congrats, guys. Who doesn't like a little recognition?

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