Malavika’s Mumbaistan: A Yen For Mumbai

Last week, while we happened to pass the narrow lane that houses the pristine and spacious bungalow of the Japanese Consul General in Mumbai, which stands on the

Last week, while we happened to pass the narrow lane that houses the pristine and spacious bungalow of the Japanese Consul General in Mumbai, which stands on the erstwhile Carmichael Road (now ML Dahanukar Marg), we chanced upon a most curious sight: outside its imposing gates stood a familiar-looking gentleman, dressed in casual attire. On closer inspection it turned out to be the bungalow’s newest resident, the current Japanese Consul General, His Excellency Michio Harada himself, who, only a few months ago, had played host to us at a sparkling reception to announce his appointment. Young, dapper and dynamic, Harada had impressed his guests with his easy affability and enthusiasm to engage. And here he was, busy photographing a small but boisterous neighbourhood Ganpati procession on its way to visarjan, unfazed by its sound and colour, looking like he was enjoying every minute of it. To be sure, we’d never seen anyone outside the bungalow, least of all its residents till date. “In the last two decades, we haven’t come across any of his predecessors who have engaged with the city so successfully,” said an insider to Mumbai’s diplomatic corridors. Also, the fact that they’ve sent a person of his seniority is also emblematic of the significant and growing relations between the two countries.” An instance of the CG’s social diplomacy (an avid golfer, he’s already been spotted at the Willington’s course on holidays) is a sit-down dinner that he hosted last week for a section of the city’s movers and shakers at his sprawling table. Served with vegetarian bento boxes, the dinner featured the likes of Mumbai’s municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi, his neighbour from down the road, Kamal and Niranjan Hiranandani, Manju and MK Sanghi, Adi Godrej and Prakash and Ashok Hinduja among others.
“He impressed us from the word go,” said the diplomatic insider, adding, “When we were first introduced rather than the usual exchange of cards, he shot a selfie of us together and saved our number on it. And ever since then, he’s been in touch.”

Michio Harada (in green), BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi at the reception.

Delhi Chic Comes To Town

Mandeep Nagi and David Housego.

The first inkling was an email from Delhi’s ever-gracious and much-beloved cultural czarina Bim Bissell. “My favourite store is set to open in Mumbai,” the octogenarian wife of the iconic founder of Fabindia. “David Housego and Mandeep Nagi are good friends and are incredibly creative,” she wrote. “Wish I was there too!” she signed off. And so it came to be known that one of the most celebrated lifestyle brands, Shades of India, founded with great passion in the early 1990s by Housego, an old India hand and a former journalist with the Financial Times and Nagi, its co-founder and design director will open its first store in Mumbai in Bandra this week. The design house that first began in Delhi which epitomizes a kind of artsy, hand-made chic that only the Capital’s women truly understand, has a 20-year textile and design legacy reflected in its apparel, jewellery, bags and soft furnishings. “Present at the launch will be Nandita Das, Gul Panag and Tisca Chopra, who love the brand,” said the invitation. Now if only Bissell could have been there too, it would be perfect!

Tweet Talk
“Gave up dairy two months ago. Been healthier for it. I don’t know who is out there milking these almonds....but I thank them and their tiny hands.”
-Tweeted by Vir Das

On The Margins

Deepika Paukone with Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

By now, the world and its uncle will have heard that Deepika Padukone, resplendent in a circle-of-life lehenga was the show-stopper at Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla’s ode to their spectacular 33 years at the top of the fashion game at their show last week. The names of the beautiful heiresses and front row stars will have ricocheted across the algorithms of fashion circles and the images will have printed themselves on the public eye. But what no one will tell you of the evening is how eschewing the usual flutes, the pink champagne was served in enormous goblets, reflecting the sense of abundance that the designers, young men who at an early age were mentored by one of Mumbai’s foremost and most generous spirited hostesses Sunita Pitamber, had come to epitomize; or how, the exuberance of the evening was kicked off by the excellent choice of music that they have come to be associated with: Biddu’s campy Boom Boom to launch the show and his iconic Aap Jaisa Koi to end it. Of course, you will have heard by now about the insta stars and zeitgeist influencers and who cheered for whom and who was wearing what. But who will tell you how some of the biggest applause was received by Adrienne (Anna ) Bredemeyer and her colleague Sheetal Malhar, both supermodels of their time, who gracefully glided on the runaway , their presence a palpable reminder of the designer’s legacy and gratitude to the past. The fashion PR machinery is as loud as it is dazzling and it reaches the very furthest corners of the planet, but who will tell you of how designer Jani, always the shy, dreamier one, compared to the extroverted Khosla, chose to sit at the edge of the runway at his own show, his face a kaleidoscope of pride, poignancy nostalgia and who knows what else, as model after model came out in his designs, marking the 33 years of his endeavour. Because sometimes, it’s not only what’s on the ramp and in full public view that makes a show, but the slight, hardly noticed happenings in the margins that tell the whole story.