Mumbai underground: Who let the dogs out?

Barks are an everyday affair at Kings Circle, Matunga, where locals walk dogs.

Over the weekend, however, it appeared the pooch party had shifted to Don Bosco School nearby.

Spectators at the annual Savio Cup basketball tournament at the school showed their creative side as they cheered the visiting American team Sportspower.

The young crowd of about 500 at the basketball courtsides would woof each time Jerome 'Junkyard Dog' Williams charged toward the basket and scored.

The former NBA player, who has turned out for Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks, went on to claim the trophy at the hugely popular Matunga fixture.

As the final between ONGC and Sportspower reached a crescendo and Junkyard Dog took control, the woof sound peaked so much to make anyone passing by RN Parekh Road mistake the match for a giant gathering of greyhounds.

Late realisation

Even as Shiv Sena continues to defy government orders to raze a platform created at Shivaji Park for cremation of Bal Thackeray, some party leaders are having second thoughts about the makeshift memorial. They are admitting in private the structure eats up park space and is an obstruction. "In hindsight, the memorial could have been adjacent to the Chhatrapati Shivaji mural," said one.

"But nothing can be done now," he added.

Sweet nothings

Inkeeping with the festive season, sits a bowl of beautifully wrapped chocolates on the office table of additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. The sweets were distributed at a recent press gathering at the office.

As reporters removed the wrappers, out popped a piece of paper that read, "Are you above 40 and craving for sweets? It's time to check your blood sugar."

Comedy of errors

For a police force largely comprising Marathi-speaking personnel, making English language errors not uncommon.

... contd.

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