Malavika’s Mumbaistan: FedEx Delivery?

Word comes in that former world no.1, Roger Federer, will soon be in India early next year.

Sporting fans refer to him as the GOAT (greatest of all time) owing to his 20 Grand Slam singles titles (a record for a male tennis player) and he is indisputably the biggest name in world tennis for the past two decades. Now, word comes in that former world no.1, Roger Federer, will soon be in India early next year. “He has been to India before on three occasions for professional and personal trips and he loved the experience. This trip is due to his association with a luxury watch brand which is organising a reception with him in Mumbai. It is all hush-hush for now,” informs a source close to the developments. Incidentally, the 38-year-old Swiss champion is a well-known fan of Indian cuisine, and has often been spotted at Indian eateries in the past. A few months ago, we had written of his visit to Indian restaurant Kutir in London for his regular fix of aloo-tikki and chicken chops.

Roger Federer

Word of his imminent India visit early next year coincidentally comes on the heels of the icon chatting up his Indian fans during a recent campaign for an apparel brand on social media. “I love India, it’s a vibrant country. To me, the Indian audience is passionate, energetic and full of life,” he’d shared on the social media video this September.

Well, now he can tell them in person.

Midnight’s Children

Eve Ensler

A diplomat friend of ours, someone who’d lived and worked in some of the world’s most fast-paced cities like New York and London, used to swear that when it came to non-stop social engagements — nothing came close to Mumbai. “It’s really the city that never rests,” he used to say, shaking his head in awe. “The city of midnight’s children.”

We wonder what he’d have made of this Wednesday’s evidence.

For starters, there was the launch of US-based writer and activist Eve Ensler’s book, The Apology, at the Royal Opera House, with a reading by Rahul Bose and a Q&A with Faye D’Souza. Ensler is no stranger to India, with her path-breaking play, The Vagina Monologues, in its sixteenth year of continuous staging; so it was something of a must attend for culture lovers. Not too far away at the Taj Ballroom a reception and private viewing of Sotheby’s second auction in Mumbai, Boundless, was underway, where over cocktails and canapés, a serving of the city’s select art lovers viewed examples of modern and contemporary south Asian art, photography, prints and design, which would go under the hammer soon. A highlight of the collection was thespian and etiquette coach Sabirra Merchant’s Gaitonde, which she had bought with her late husband, industrialist Chotu Merchant. The untitled work was expected to fetch between ₹21 crore and ₹28 crore.

If these weren’t enough, big-ticket event clashes for the city’s prominent culturati later that evening saw the opening party of the on-going Tata Literature Live!, hosted by its organisers and leading industrialist, Ajit Singh, and wife, Anjali. Attended by participating authors from around the world, it was a hard-to-miss event by any measure. But that was not all; further down at the St Regis, an art and fashion charity auction was underway, in support of empowering orphans with education and livelihood, which had the likes of man about town and polo enthusiast, Riyhad Kundanmal, hotelier Timmy Narang and choreographer Terence Lewis, dressed by Arjun Khanna, walk the ramp along with their families, followed by an art auction, which included works by celebrated Paris-based artist Sakti Burman.

Riyhad Kundanmal with Shefali and Arjun Khanna at the charity auction.

But of course, this is only a fraction of a small part of the city’s offerings on a single Wednesday night — according to those in the know, the “season” has just begun.

Tweet Talk:

BJP wants Shiv Sena backing.

Shiv Sena wants NCP backing.

NCP wants Congress backing.

Congress backing out.

— Ramesh Srivats’ tweet on the current Maharashtra imbroglio..

Blast From The Past

Lara Dutta

A short video clip on Lara Dutta’s 2000 Miss Universe win has the poised and self-possessed actress walk off with the pageant with elan, prompting the event’s comperes to gush over her “calm” and “grace under pressure”, qualities that India’s crop of beauty queens of that era — from Sushmita Sen to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan — appeared to have aced.

Ironically, unknown to Dutta even while she was on stage, was the fact that her dear friend, designer Hemant Trivedi, a leading designer of his time and ironically, the man who had created her wardrobe for the pageant (including the gown that she was wearing), had met with a near-fatal road accident and was lying in coma at a Mumbai hospital, fighting for his life.

Hemant Trivedi

Apparently, none amongst her close circle of friends had the heart to inform Dutta of the tragedy or explain why Trivedi would not respond to her many calls to share the news of her sensational win.

It was only much later, on one of the happiest days of her life, that the reigning Miss Universe was informed about the condition of her dear friend. “For me, like Lara, it was heartbreak and happiness,” says Goa-based designer Wendell Rodricks, a friend of both Dutta and Trivedi, in a post recalling the fateful night.

Fortunately, after a long and brave battle, Trivedi had survived the accident and the friends could celebrate the victory.

“Watch this video to see Lara Dutta’s grace and eloquence. Both of which she has retained till today, two decades later,” Rodricks signs off.