Keep it Quiet Please

But more than elegance and sophistication,the Clinton wedding — which could easily have been the wedding of the decade — possessed a very rare distinction. It was low-key.

No details of the wedding were let out. No one knows how much it cost or the food that was served. The guest list barely had any names worth boldfacing,and even President Barack Obama was not invited.

Yes,the bride’s dress was recognised as a Vera Wang. But Wang is such a common choice for brides who can afford her,she’s bordering on the wane. Chelsea could have easily picked her friend Donatella Versace,but then it wouldn’t have been the wedding she would have wanted.

As any seasoned journalist will tell you,celebrities are discreet only when they want to be. Most of them only pretend to value their privacy,easily letting out details about their private evenings via a leaky friend or a hired PR who willingly squeals on those who’re paying him to. Of course,film stars and rich socialites fall in this purview,but so do some of the richest people in this country.

The way the cookie crumbles is rather contrary to what is perceived. Sure,you’ll have your picture in the paper once,twice or even every day of the week. But you’ll never rise above that. You’ll never have the respect of the people who count — the media and your colleagues. You’ll never have the one thing that matters most and probably matters alone in being a blue-chip celebrity: being unattainable.

Drive up Malabar Hill and Napean Sea Road in Mumbai,or Jor Bagh,Sunder Nagar and Golf Links in Delhi,and handpick the most beautiful bungalows you see. You’ll barely be able to tell who lives in them or recognise their names and faces. Sure,they dine at Indigo or Zest,but you’ll never know.

Anyone with half a sense of style will agree: you can tell the world who you are or what you feel by the wardrobe choices you make. Not just Chelsea,Aishwarya Rai picking a gold-woven Kanjeevaram for her nuptials when she could have picked any top-drawer designer in this country (arguably even the world),said to us: I’m every woman.

I cannot even remember what Kiran Rao wore to her wedding to Aamir Khan,her sari was so nondescript. Although I’m sure she wore glasses,telling us all to take her seriously please. That Khan (who only goes into marketing overdrive when there’s a film to be released) picked a very private venue,a newly acquired old bungalow in Panchgani,also smacks of his proclivity to keeping it personal.

The more you chase the press the more it stops chasing you; even the most leak-hungry tabloid. As society journalism in India is on its way to growing up (gulp,almost),there is a way we separate the chaff from the grain.

(namratanow@gmail.com)