bpb's weekly pick-tionary of happenings from Mumbai and beyond.

A week after the bomb blasts that killed 20, Mumbai police are still on the trail for leads on the alleged bomber, after CCTV grabs show a man running away from Opera House. The government also has intelligence reports warning of parcel bomb attacks on VIPs throughout the country.

An unemployed man kills his parents who were ‘mean and spiteful’ and stays with their bodies for two days before going missing. RIP!

Good Lord: As India plays their 100^th test with England, Sachin Tendulkar is looking at scoring his 100^th international century. Here’s a list of Tendulkar’s five greatest centuries. Meanwhile MS Dhoni auctions of his world cup bat for Rs. 72 lakhs in benefit of his charity, the Sakshi Foundation. 

Hanging with the Girls: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kickstarts her visit to India by emphasizing greater cooperation between India and the US. On her agenda thus far have been meetings with Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj and Jayalalitha.

July 15: Play – Joke at Prithvi Theatre, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, 26149546, 9 pm.

July 15- July 16: Wok Up Food Festival at JW Marriott, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, 66933344.

July 15- July 24: Souffle Festival at Fenix, The Oberoi, Nariman Point, 66325757.

July 15- July 24: The Art of Bento Food Festival at San Qi, Four Seasons Hotel, Worli, 24818000.

July 16: Trek at Khajjar with Nomadic Trails, 9969669174.

What: Live From the Console, Recording Studios at Mehboob Studio, 100 Hill Road, Bandra (W), view the Facebook page here, Rs 150 per head.

Why: This new initiative brings together emerging musical acts like The Mavyns, Color Compound and Alex Rintu to perform live in a previously defunct room at the uber cool Mehboob Studios. Plus, the booze will be cheap, so make sure you show up! Also check out Prathna Singh’s sexy portraits of twelve women you can stare at, at Le Mill.

When: Live From the Console starts at 6.30 pm on Saturday, July 16.

bpb's weekly pick-tionary of happenings from Mumbai and beyond.

At least 21 people were killed and 140 injured (toll as of July 14 at 12.30 am) after three blasts struck Mumbai at Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar yesterday evening. RIP. While Home Minister P Chidambaram described it as a "coordinated terror attack", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other political leaders predictably, condemned the act. Meanwhile, helpful Mumbaikars took to social networking sites, offering traffic updates, helpline numbers and their homes and offices to people stranded in the area. High alert in Kolkata, where the city police believe terrorists could be taking shelter.

Blessed by the Child? To make up for the severe shortage of priests during Ganesh Chaturthi (there are presently 4,000 priests to serve 12,000 Ganesh mandals and two lakh households), teenagers are being trained to administer prayers.

Critics be wand - final Harry Potter movie grosses USD 25 million even before its release! Here are pictures from the New York premier.

Exit Sign: The French Foreign Minister announced that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ready to surrender power following continuous NATO air raid strikes.

Fly! The latest organisation to go live is the Mumbai Airport, tweeting and Facebook-ing and even registering passenger complaints. Meanwhile, rival Google + may hit the 10 million user mark today. 

Game Reserve: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh carries out a minor cabinet reshuffle, elevating minister Jairam Ramesh to cabinet rank while demoting Veerappa Moily and Vilasrao Deshmukh, with the latter comparing the reshuffle to a game of kho-kho.

July 8: Jyotiba- A Photography Exhibition by Ramesh Desai, NCPA, Nariman Point, noon onwards, 66223737

July 8: Wobble with DJ Uri Pravvy Prav and MC P.R.I.T at Bonobo, Off Linking Road, Bandra, 10 pm onwards, 26055050

July 8- July 9: Raindrops Festival of Indian Classical Dance at PL Deshpande Auditorium, Prabhadevi, 7.30 pm onwards, 24365990

July 8- July 10: Exhibition of Monks and Buddhas, Galleria Art Gallery, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, 24952005

July 8- July 10: Father’s Day Special at Pure Sin Chocolate, Pilcourt, Maharishi Karve Road, Churchgate, 22000267

July 9: Vagina Monologues at The Comedy Store, Lower Parel, 6 pm onwards, 43485000

Our weekly pick-tionary of happenings from Mumbai and beyond.

As the July 4th fireworks die down, another country is gets ready to celebrate its independence. Southern Sudan will most likely be recognized as a new country by the United Nations following a meeting on the 14^th of July. Happy birthday!

Bond(ed) for Life: Daniel Craig, aka James Bond and Rachel Weiss get married in a super-secret ceremony in New York. Here’s a list of other secret celebrity weddings.

Double Trouble: A Nigerian American man travels for months on expired tickets across the US and then goes scot-free for five days, even after security found out that he was a stowaway! Meanwhile a man walks through security check at the Mumbai airport although his ticket was for the next day!

Eight Indian athletes test positive for doping. Why aren’t we surprised?

Following the 7/7 terrorist attacks on the London tube, News of the World allegedly paid the London police to hack the victims’ family phones. Shameful!

God’s Own Country: A recent inventory of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Kerala finds gold and valuables worth approximately $ 22 billion. If the temple were a person, it would be just short of making Forbes’ list of the 10 richest people in the world. Here is a list of richest temples in the country!

July 2: Dynamic Feet. Dynamic Rhythm: Kathak performance by Pandit Chitresh Das at NCPA, Nariman Point, 7 pm, 22824567.

July 1- July 20: Starry Eyed Surprise - A Zodiac inspired cocktail menu at O22, Trident, Bandra Kurla, 11 am to midnight, 66727777.

July 2: Ma Faiza presents Qnites - Celebrating gay pride at Blue Frog, Lower Parel, 10.30 pm onwards, 61586158.

July 2: Raavanleela at Prithvi Theatre, Juhu, 6 pm and 9 pm, 26149546.

What: bpb’s Turning Tables with Veda has been rescheduled, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book a spot, no plus ones allowed, Rs 1,200 this month, BYOB.

Why: We rig Veda this month, transporting the delish Indian-fusion restaurant’s head chef to a private home, where he and his tandoor will whip up a divine dinner for you and 20 other strangers. Read more about the event here.

When: Dinner on July 27 at 8.30 pm, bookings open now. Tikka tock!

bpb’s weekly pick-tionary of happenings from Mumbai and beyond.

Bodies of four Chattisgarh jawans killed by Maoist set-up landmines were saluted and then put into garbage vans to be transported! The indignity has made the Congress indignant, which politicized the issue. Shameful, we say!

Girls to Men? Doctors in Indore are surgically changing the gender of girls as young as one year old, so as to fulfill parents’ obsession with having a baby boy. Shocking! 

Here Comes the Pride: On Sunday, New Yorkers celebrated the passing of the historic same-sex marriage bill with a gay pride parade that saw NYC mayor Bloomberg and singer Katy Perry in attendance. The honeymoon’s just begun!

Kolkata’s hosting the Argentinean and Venezuelan football teams that are playing a friendly match in the city on September 2. Be there to cheer on Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Joy!

Latest video to go viral on YouTube is that of a seagull picking up a video camera and then filming Cannes, as she flew over it! Bird’s eye view, indeed! Also, check out this list of YouTube’s 10 most watched videos here.

More than two weeks after journalist J Dey was murdered, the Mumbai police nabbed his killers from in and around the city. They say that gangster Chhota Rajan had commissioned the killers, although his motive is unknown.

Sawdust at Sand Hurst: The International Sawdust and Sand Sculpture Festival opened in Bulgaria with sculptures featuring many a Disney movie: Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland!

Weekend Quickie:

June 24: A Tribute to Michael Jackson at The Elbo Room, Sant Kutir Apartments, Khar Linking Road, Khar West, 8 pm, call 26483315

June 24 and 25: Aarna exhibition featuring hip designers at Joss, Kala Ghoda, opposite Jehangir Art Gallery, 11 am to 10 pm, call 9821092734.

June 24: Markus Birdman, Glenn Wool and Anuvab Pal at The Comedy Store, Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel at 8.30 pm call 43485000.

June 25: Retro night featuring The Other People and DJ Ruskin at Blue Frog, Lower Parel at 10.30 pm, call 24955009.

June 25 to June 26: Water sports trail with Blueberry Trails at Kolad, call 9820089047.

June 26: Past Forward - An Evening of Two Plays at NCPA, Nariman Point on June 26 at 7 pm, call 66223737.