Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Meditating and Mediating for World Peace?

High-flying international banker and political strategist, Anshuman Mishra, decided to bring in the New Year meditating in the quiet town of Vlodrop in the Netherlands

After becoming one of the top donors to the Boris Johnson campaign in Britain’s recent general elections, we hear the enigmatic, high-flying international banker and political strategist, Anshuman Mishra, decided to bring in the New Year meditating in the quiet town of Vlodrop in the Netherlands, in the heart of the Dutch forest, at the home of his late uncle, The Beatles’s guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

(Centre) Anshuman Misra with the Mahirishi’s aides.

The spiritual retreat — said to be designed according to traditional Vedic architecture — where the celebrated TM guru spent his last years, is known to have a powerful ‘centre of silence’ which is the headquarters of the Maharishi’s Global Country of World Peace movement.

Mishra — known as the Steve Bannon of India because of his RSS background— who spends his time between London, LA and Mumbai and has on his speed dial Middle Eastern potentates, Indian billionaires, British aristocrats and Hollywood stars, has emerged as a major centre of right supporter, with close links to the likes of Johnson and Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

This November, he had received a personal letter of thanks from Johnson for his “incredibly generous donation to the Conservative Party”, but he refuses to disclose exactly how much he had pledged to the Tories; later this month, he has been invited by the British PM and the party chairman, Ben Elliot, to a drinks reception where he will be officially thanked for this generosity.

Meanwhile, let’s hope that his intense meditation over the New Year does have a positive effect on world peace and that his efforts bring enlightenment and calm to the likes of Johnson, Kushner and others in his circle.

Upwards and Onwards

(From left) Chefs Ritu Dalmia and Viviana Varese at a pride march.

Word comes in that chef-turned-restaurateur and LBGTQ activist Ritu Dalmia — who had received international acclaim in 2018 for being one of the five petitioners in the infamous section 377 case, which the Supreme Court eventually struck down — has expanded her European operations by recently buying Milan’s one-Michelin starred restaurant, Alice, started by chef Viviana Varese. Besides bringing in a prestigious Michelin star to her stable, it also consolidates Dalmia’s global expansion as she spends much of her time tending to Cittamani, her ‘Indian-Italian’ casual eatery in the same city. Besides her restaurant empire, Dalmia has also fast gained the reputation of being one of the most successful wedding caterers for the country’s top destination weddings, like the recent Ambani celebrations. And if this were not enough, one hears that Varese and Dalmia have also started a third venture recently, called Spica, in the heart of Milan, making her Analjit Singh-backed restaurant empire one of the most successful and debt-free Indian F&B companies.

The Ace Publisher

The late Sonny Mehta.

He was one of the brightest Indians to achieve international success and so when ace publisher Sonny Mehta, the head of Alfred A. Knopf, died this Monday in New York at the age of 77, from complications arising from pneumonia, even PM Narendra Modi tweeted his commiserations. Born in India to one of the country’s first diplomats, the Cambridge-educated Mehta had begun his career in London in the sixties, where his rise through the ranks was fast and phenomenal. As editor of Pan Books in the 1970s, he created a vastly successful commercial imprint, which led to him being courted by the US, and his subsequent move to New York in 1987; in his role as the editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf in New York, he published best-selling writers of literary fiction, including Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, VS Naipaul, Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison.

In his tribute in the NYT, Rushdie recalled Mehta’s genius, saying that it was during the publishing of the Jaguar Smile that he “learned how great Sonny’s editorial skills were”.

But for all his success, Mehta, who we had met at the late Sunita Pitamber’s residence many decades ago, was equally celebrated for his unhurried and understated presence, prompting Private Eye to once say that he was “so laid-back he might keel over”.

He is survived by a son and his wife, the author, Gita Mehta, the sister of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

Love and Harmony

(From left) Farhan Furniturewala, Pooja Bedi and Maneck Contractor in Goa.

If you really want to believe that New Year will bring in love, peace and harmony, you only have to look at these vignettes from Laila and Farhan Furniturewala’s end-of-year celebrations last week in Goa.

Featuring a host of familiar faces, such as London-based musician Biddu, Bangalore-based socialite Leena Singh and Mumbai’s jewellery designer Farah Khan, we hear that the cynosure of all eyes was erstwhile actress and columnist, Pooja Bedi.

After all, Bedi was once married to Furniturewala, with who she shares two children — son, Omar Ebrahim, and daughter, Aaliya F, who will be making her debut in Saif Ali Khan’s Jawaani Jaaneman. The couple had divorced in 2003, but have maintained cordial relations thanks to their own maturity and that of Farhan’s wife Laila, whose savoir faire and grace is said to have contributed to the amicable, tension-free vibe.

Hence, the bonhomie and affection was said to be evident in spades at Furniturewala‘s home with Farhan and Laila playing gracious hosts to not only Pooja, but to her soon-to-be-husband Maneck Contractor, her Sanawar schoolmate who she got engaged to in February last year.

“2nd last night of 2019...with so much love and affection all around, thank you Farhan & Laila for a fabulous evening in your lovely Goa home!” Bedi posted about the evening, a testimony to the fact that love, peace and harmony are not that difficult to achieve if one tries.