A musical, social medley

Talking of New York a close friend Edgar Batista was down in Delhi with a group of friends for a wedding last week. The epitome of quixotic charm and revelry, Edgar is a walking, talking social calendar, of where to be in any part of the world on any given day. Perhaps a dash of the`If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium’ syndrome. He works too but in the rarefied world of the super rich where one sold work makes the rest of the year glide by on winged, effortless splendor. He had an entourage of friends, which included the ever effervescent, esoteric, Mary McFadden.

I met Mary over 10 years ago in her studio in New York and to her must go the ultimate credit of making time seemingly stand still, as she looks exactly the same as she did then. She is constantly challenged and is spiritually inspired by Sufism. She is working in India with noted film director Muzzafar Ali and has completed inspired sets and costumes for his forthcoming film. Mary has made the fortuny pleat a timeless, ageless concept of fashion and her draped dresses are matchless in their splendour and ornamentation for a grand soiree or ball. Others in the group included Thomas, Scott and Edgar’s brother and sister in law. We went to Bonny and Jas Arora’s anniversary party which was young and happening, like theattractive duo are, and then onto a wedding party at Annabel’s where the city thronged till the wee hours of the morning.

The following night I was a guest of Lekha Poddar at a concert hosted by Fiat and the Taj for `Save the Children’. The maestros who performed that night were Pandit Birju Maharaj, resplendent in white silk, who with effortless, graceful movements conveyed the message of dance to some of the uninitiated. Ustad Zakir Hussain in a virtuoso performance, charmed me during the break as he did close to 20 years ago when I’d gone backstage to meet him as a young gaga fan. Again an artiste who has grown from phenomenal to near God status but has maintained his humour, charm and enviable cherubic good looks. Last, but not least, was the unparalleled ghazal singer Jagjit Singh, his dreamy sensuous voice transports you to a world where love and it’s conjoined twin, pain are inseparable. We left the concert before the finale.

Rajan Poddar, Lekha’s husband, was waiting for us at the weddingfunction. Lekha was wearing a beautiful rani pink and gold odnitres bon! A very classy event and all the credit must go to the attractive Maheep Singh.

Mumbai over the weekend was taken up celebrating Id, a housewarming and a surprise birthday celebration. Shabaaz Khan and Gita Bali, the most strikingly attractive dating couple in the city, had a small and intimate Id celebration with a group of friends. We sat in clusters, eating the delicious, steaming biryani and sheera. My olfactory membranes had been titillated by the wafting flavours. When I sat down to eat I found that my eye’s hadfeasted more than my stomach ever could, my plate was piled up like food was going out of fashion. The ultimate verdict: Delicious. Shefali and Arjun Khanna, Kishen, Mita and Rajesh Mulchandani, Sanjeev Divan, who gave me a lovely box of chocolates, Chayya Momaya, Imam, Dr and Mrs Bali, Noyonika, Anouk and last but not the least Sanjeev Chowdhury, my devoted friend and confidant, were all there.

Some of Shabaaz’s close friend’s were also present but I didn’t quite get a chance to talk to them. We all gathered to wish each other Id Mubarak and cut a cake. I was indeed honoured to be included in this warm celebration. We stopped by at Bonny Duggal’s housewarming on our way home. Shasilal Nair, Jackie Shroff with attractive Divya Palat and I tucked ourselves out of harm’s way and caught up on some gossip and chinwagging. The party was full of young, leggy models. I said a quick Hi! to my old friend PJ, Sangeeta and Sumeet Chopra, Tarun Raghavan and Don. Then it was curtains for me, so I headed home.

Thesurprise birthday party for Mel D’Souza was an event with a strong element of deja vu to it a la Goa. Mel, who has recently been appointed a director of Channel [V], the numero uno music channel, had reason to celebrate a double whammy. We reached Jules Fuller’s apartment well before the appointed 9.00 pm and warmed straight into the act with some of Sophiya’s melon punch. Potent witches potion that, it went straight to my head and brought the wacky, naughty me to the fore. We grouped around the door, Sanjeev Chowdhury, Krish, Madhu Sapre, Saira and Ayesha, the great looking sister of our striking beauty Sophiya, Iliyas, Leyland, Nicky, Matthew, Meghna Reddy, Suchitra Pillai, Andrew Carnegie and I, to belt a hearty `Happy Birthday’ the minute Mel walked in the door. From then on we were on cloud nine. Jules played an electric guitar, when the strings on his other guitar snapped and that put an extra zing into our night. Suchi, Soph, Saira and Ayesh sang with Iliyas and Leyland on the tabla. When KaizadGustad and friend strolled in at midnight the party was in full swing. They just merged into the energy of our punning and funning and my taking the mickey out of everyone.

When Kaizad got a taste of my brand of humour targeted at his film Bombay Boys he came back with rapier sharp repartee. Very talented this young man — though the film was a tad too violent for me. He put the elements of parody in the film, back in perspective for me. Refreshing, methinks sans Samson dreadlocks, the young man has the striking good looks and intelligence to make the actor slot himself. He’s onto bigger and better things though, with the phenomenal success of his eclectic film. The potency of the evening lay in the awesome creative talent present on Jules terrace. If the future of our music and film industry rests on the shoulders of these talented young stars our country can only be the richer for it.

From Mumbai to Delhi, the common thread of music, though vastly different, had me spellbound. Our musicstars have the ability to bind the two cities in a musical cinch as no other talent can. So here’s to music. May it be the language that coheres our whole nation as one forever.