Malavika’s Mumbaistan: #MeToo Crusader

When Anshuman Misra tweeted his support to India’s exploding #MeToo movement recently, it created a stir.

He’s known as having been close to ‘Beatles’ guru’ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and is counted as belonging to the inner circle of some of the country’s leading industrialists and politicians, and to be sure, the London-based businessman Anshuman Misra is an enigmatic figure to many ever since his controversial attempt to enter the Rajya Sabha as an independent MP from Jharkhand had resulted in many a red face in the ruling party a few years ago. Which is why, when he tweeted his support to India’s exploding #MeToo movement recently, it created a stir. “Well done India. I am setting up a fund for any woman who has a credible case to take these Monsters to court…I will be contacting leading law firms on Indian soil to place them on a retainer to file cases around the country,” tweeted the feisty NRI. Commendable and altruistic as this is, perhaps Misra’s commitment to the cause has a personal angle too. Sources swear that it was Misra who had gotten into a fistfight with #MeToo accused and Mumbai adman and consultant, not too long ago at a crowded rooftop bar of a mid-city five star hotel, in full public view, when the latter is said to have misbehaved with another woman. “Not only that, but Misra is supposed to have exercised his influence and got hold of CCTV footage from the night and made sure to have the disgraced bon vivant banned from the bar for all time after the incident,” informs our source, adding, “Perhaps, their old enmity has also prompted Misra to offer his resources to victims of the disgraced perpetrator’s prodigious tongue”. Incidentally, the consultant’s deafening silence on the flurry of accusations has not passed without note: “When Mr Verbal Diarrhoea is suddenly backed up like Constipation Central, you know you are dealing with Gulity as F#@*,” read one post on social media recently, which appeared to allude to him.

Anshuman Misra

Is India’s leading spinmeister going to spin himself out of this one?

Bees Saal Baad

Jacqueline Lundquist, with Delhi-based fashion designer Rina Dhaka.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, appears to be a fitting adage to apply to pictures of former ambassador to India, Richard Celeste’s glamorous wife Jacqueline Lundquist, with Delhi-based fashion designer Rina Dhaka. Last week saw the duo team up for a charity fashion show, ‘Rays of Hope’, held at the residence of the Brazilian ambassador in support of the girl child. There was a sense of déjà vu, because, in many ways, it had been the fashion forward Jacqueline who’d set the charity gala ball rolling in the diplomatic corps almost two decades ago, when she had occupied Lincoln House and had banded a group of the Capital’s grandest dames, including Sunita Kohli, Mala Singh and Bim Bissel, on an NGO platform that supported good causes. To underline the continuity of their association, Lundquist, who had walked the ramp modelling one of Dhaka’s creations — a dove grey embroidered slip jacket worn with wide pants, had posted, “Then and Now” portraits of the two of them, spanning twenty years. And by the looks of it, not much had changed bees saal baad…

Back to School

Top corporate leaders at the Harvard meet.

What was India’s leading corporate statesman and former chairman of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, doing sitting gamely in a classroom at Harvard, Boston, recently? Pictures of the philanthropist and investor, in the company of Nadir Godrej of Godrej Industries, Rajive Kaul of Nicco Corp, and Ajay Arora of D’ Décor, along with HBS’ Mumbai-based executive director Anjali Raina, made it to social media this week, drawing interest . “They were there as members of the South Asia Alumni, attending the HBS International Research Symposium,” said a spokesperson, when we enquired what had brought the men together. Incidentally, missing in action were other prominent Indian alumni from Harvard ‘s renowned business school, like Rahul Bajaj, Anand Mahindra and P Chidambaram. What a class room that would have made!

Now You See Her

Sonia Gandhi at a Delhi event

She’s known as the Capital’s most famous recluse, and much of it was due to her position as Congress president, which kept her busy and away from the Lutyen’s luvvies and their social soirees. But, now that she is pretty much a private citizen — after handing over charge to son Rahul Gandhi — Sonia Gandhi appears to be stepping out more, and that too in style. Last week saw her grace an exhibition of fashion jewellery in Delhi, at the Capital’s popular Bikaner House, and going by the ecstatic reports her presence (in a simple white and blue cotton ensemble, sans jewels, and hair pulled gently back) created much excitement. “We were privileged to have Mrs Sonia Gandhi, a most elegant aesthete, visit our show today,” the designer posted on social media, about the celebrity visitor. Of course, political wags say there is more to these appearances, and the Congress leader who has been in and out of hospitals, is keen to create the impression that she’s hale and hearty and active in the run-up to the much-awaited general elections next year.