Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Bombay Duck

“I cringe when they describe me as the father of molecular gastronomy,” confessed British chef Heston Blumenthal, when we met for dinner on Saturday night, in Mumbai.

“I cringe when they describe me as the father of molecular gastronomy,” confessed British chef Heston Blumenthal, when we met for dinner on Saturday night, in Mumbai. The self-taught chef was in India to put together two dinners in partnership with the Marriot group which is celebrating its ‘year of chefs’. The chef behind the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck in the UK (voted as World’s Best Restaurant in 2005), who appears frequently on Masterchef Australia saw much excitement from Mumbai’s foodies as he presented six courses for those in attendance. Although guests weren’t floored by the food on their plates, it was the opportunity to listen to the celebrated chef talk about his philosophy of cooking that had them engrossed. We spotted food enthusiasts like Karyna Bajaj and Ramit Mittal, and others like India’s leading wine personalities Madhulika Dhall (who had flown down from Delhi to curate and pair the wine for the evening) and hotelier Anuraag Bhatnagar partaking in the Blumenthal-created repast, an offering from the affable chef, before he flew out to the Capital for a similar dinner.

Heston Blumenthal with his family.

Inclusivity In A High Ball Glass

Keshav Suri (extreme right), Jim Sarbh (second from left) with friends.

It is a measure of Mumbai’s texture and the eclectic panoply of delights that it affords: Right across the street from the Marriot and its six-course, wine-paired, sit-down dinner prepared by three Michelin star Chef Heston Blumenthal on Saturday night was the freakishly crazy, all inclusive, full-on drag queen, high-heel stomping fourth anniversary of Kitty Su at the Lalit, where Keshav Suri’s delightful paean to freedom and personal expression in a High Ball Glass had just begun to undulate. How could we not go? “We have been the go-to night-out destination for the city that never sleeps. They have embraced us with all our craziness and supported our non-discrimination policy. I invite the fabulous folks of Mumbai for the freak show celebrations on the fourth Kittyversary. This will be a night of pure inclusion. I want everyone to embrace their inner freak, and enjoy the memorable night,” the invitation from Suri, executive director of The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and one of the country’s foremost LGBTQ activists, had read. And by the time we got there, the fever pitch of excitement was peaking, as a claque of impossibly gorgeous queens with enough sass in them to launch a ship, were getting their feathers and eyelashes on.

Violet Chachki

The evening’s main act was Violet Chachki aka Jason Dardo, the American drag queen, burlesque dancer, recording artist, television personality, and model. Celebrated for her burlesque performances, to say that the six foot and six inch Jimmy Choo-wearing artiste had the crowd eating out of the palm of her exquisitely-manicured hands, would be an understatement. Other locally-grown queens like Maya the Drag Queen, Betta Naan Stop and Zeesh Ali were no slouches in the glitter-glam department either. And what’s best of all was that the crowd, consisting of both women and men including actor Jim Sarbh, Aishwariya Nair Mathew and Rhea Kapoor, gobbled up the sense of fun inclusivity and zaniness of one amidst the city’s eclectic panoply of delights.

Tweet Talk
“After Sunny Deol’s entry into politics, it is now:
Haath of Congress
Vs
Dhai kilo ka haath of BJP”
- A WhatsApp forward doing the rounds

Symphony Of Hope

The band at rehearsal.

What is it about some of the most beautiful lands and people that their cups of sorrow that are never empty, are always overflowing? As if it were not enough that nature has wreaked enough havoc on Sri Lanka in the past, it awoke to a tragedy on Easter Sunday. Throughout the day, grief and horror surrounding the bombings in Sri Lanka’s churches and hotels engulfed the world. Given its proximity, that the concentric circles of sadness and despair swept over the city was to be expected. Bunty Chand, Asia Society’s India head, found herself in the company of 14 young men and women, all musicians from Sri Lanka who were in Mumbai, as part of the Asia Society India Centre and South Asian Symphony Foundation’s inaugural performance, later this week. Created as a platform to promote peace, mutual understanding and greater cultural integration in the region of South Asia, the room contained over 70 musicians drawn from SAARC countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the South Asian diaspora. An initiative of the distinguished retired diplomat and Symphony’s founder Nirupama Rao, it had been predicated on the belief that music is a way of making sense of the world, and an “orchestra serves as the perfect analogy for regional ties, an audible demonstration of what harmony is possible here,” according to its spokesperson.

Bunty Chand

“It was very poignant,” said Chand, about Sunday’s rehearsal. “We observed many moments of silence, as we absorbed the enormity of the violence and grief,” she said. Many of those killed and injured in the Sri Lanka terror attack were known to the visiting musicians. This Thursday and Friday, the young men and women will be performing in Mumbai. May their symphonies rise strong and clear above sectarian divisions and borders and their personal tragedies. And may we live in a world where we are never called upon to observe silence, where music and harmony ought to ring loud.