After desert chill, Material Girl’s next stop: Mumbai

She has been in Rajasthan all week, soaking in the chilled air and taking in as much of the rustic life as her glamorous lifestyle will let her.

She has been in Rajasthan all week, soaking in the chilled air and taking in as much of the rustic life as her glamorous lifestyle will let her. Madonna—who gyrated into our consciousness in the Eighties wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier-designed conical bra, who seduced a priest in a church singing Like A Virgin and made great disco and bad films (Dick Tracy, anybody?)—is said to be coming to Mumbai tonight.

The multiple Grammy winner singer and actor, along with filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie, daughter Lourdes, son Rocco and adopted son Malawi-born David Banda, is checking into the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Mumbai’s Colaba area, under a pseudonym.

The hotel authorities have not revealed much, but have not denied that the American pop star and international celebrity will be staying with them. “She wants to keep this as private as possible, if she knew that people have come to know of her visit, she would be very upset,” says a source.

However, some bits of her itinerary are known. She will be attending a party hosted for her by businessman Titu Ahluwalia, also the former CEO of AC Nielsen, on January 9. Ahluwalia has never met her before but the two are known to each other through a common Indian friend.

The dinner will be a small and private affair, with fewer than 20 guests, including Ahluwalia’s former wife Jamini and daughter Maithili. The soiree will take place at Ahluwalia’s residence in Bakhtawar building, Colaba (the building is also home to Ratan Tata).

The 49-year-old singer will be taken around Mumbai by a seasoned Mumbaika—-Australian author Gregory David Roberts, whose best-selling Shantaram was set in the slums of Cuffe Parade. A dinner at one of Mumbai’s hippest restaurants, Indigo, is also on their wish-list. Madonna will also be visiting Maithili’s chic lifestyle store, Bungalow 8, at Marine Drive.

Madonna and her family brought in the New Year in a village near Jodhpur, horseback riding and trying out local delicacies at the Umaid Bhawan palace.