In a week where the nation was rivetted to the power play at the Centre, the weekend provided light relief. With the crucial vote of confidence on Saturday, I called a friend in the ruling party to congratulate him for what seemed a fait accompli late Friday. Though confident he said, `We will not know for sure till the last ball is bowled.' Rather unfortunately for the ruling party it was that crucial one vote that lost them the government. The last ball bowled caused them to lose by one. On Saturday evening, having been away from Mumbai for the better part of the month I ventured out with the sole intention of catching up with the social milieu.The Wills press launch for a film and music video produced by Prahlad Kakkar and sung by Shankar Mahadevan titled Come on India at the Oberoi was my first choice of event for the evening. Upon reaching the Oberoi we come face to face with Shankar and Sangeeta, his charming wife, in the lobby. Krish, my teenage son, had accompanied me with the expresswish of meeting Shankar. Being introduced to Shankar made his day for sure. Not that I am any less of a fan, from Talvin Singh's album OK, where Shankar chants the Gayatri Mantra, to his song Breathless and Hindustani, I'm a surefire convert to his passionate, evocative style of singing. My spirit rises to the awesome range and depth of his voice, the power, the dedication, the slight accent - all find a special echo in my psyche. To say Come on India was spectacular would not be an understatement. The whole World Cup Cricket team was seated on the stage, when Shankar burst on to the stage and belted his short but emotive song to the Wills Indian team, followed by the video clip. As BMG Crescendo puts it: "It is the passionate outpouring of an entire nation - it is that cry which echoes in the plains of our heartland's, it is that passion which reverberates in the bylanes of our throbbing metros, it is that desire which flows through every tributary of the Ganges. ForCricket in India is not just any other game - it is the heartbeat of the entire nation."Strong stuff that. With the combined talent of Prahlad and Shankar and the might of ITC behind it, this is a `one of a kind music' video.Having Sangeeta, Shankar's wife, by my side ensured that I could express my enthusiastic appreciation on the spot. After the launch of the music video, the team was presented with gold ID bracelets as a good luck charm for the World Cup. To be honest, I've never witnessed the near-adulation of our cricketing super heroes first hand and close up as I did that evening. I've watched cricket matches at stadiums and on TV but never imagined that I could get swept into the fervour of the nation's cricket obsession. Hearing Come on India and having the team in our midst made me feel like shouting, `Go! Guys, go! and bring us back the World Cup.' Rather an `over the top' kind of a sentiment even for me. Anyway, I expressed my best wishes to the charming Anshuman Gaikwad and hegraciously invited me to come to the World Cup at least for the semi-finals and the finals and I heard myself say, `Sure, if India gets to the finals. I'll be there.' On hindsight, I feel it was rather frivolous of me to make such a statement. With the euphoria of Come on India, I guess it is quite likely that India gets to the finals. Hey! in that eventuality perhaps I will want to go and watch our lads hold the Cup aloft, to show the world that it's for all the right reasons that India is cricket obsessed and our cricketing heroes are demi gods. I wish the team luck and God speed. I congratulate Wills sport, BMG, Prahlad and Shankar Mahadevan for a soul stirring, mind blowing Come on India. If I was so inspired our team surely were, so perhaps I better book my seat come May to London and Lords. Sanjeev Chowdhury, Kishen Mulchandani, Sonia Garware were the few non-media friends at the launch.Having stayed for longer than I meant to at the launch, it was a mad dash to the Taj for the ShawWallace Royal Challenge Euro Dancertainer show hosted by Ravi Jain. I caught up with a host of friends at the event but only just managed to see the last dance of the show. Jackie Shroff, looking dapper in cream and black, Shashi Nair pristine in pure white and Sunita Saxena sultry in a hot pink sari were definite eye catchers that night. Marc Robinson, the handsomest model hunk since Ramphal switched lanes to filmland, was there sans girlfriend Preity Zinta. Gosh! Do these two make a gorgeous couple. Of all the crop of young damsels, in the bad, bad world of films, I think Preity has the advantage of attitude and chutzpah, combined with dollops of oomph. Twiddle dum! To her alleged weight problem! She's a perfect `10' in my dictionary. All those anorexic touch-me-nots can cry their eyes out with envy 'cause this girl has talent to boot, a surefire winner. Ravi Jain, our suave host, ensured that everyone was well looked after. Manpreet Brar, former Miss India, a charming and eloquent lady,showed she had a sense of humour when I ribbed her with a little joke. Dash Saxena with brother-in-law-to-be Harsh, Anita and Anil Singh, Arjun Khanna, Apeksha and Sumeet Chopra and last but not least, the lovely Joan Paes were some of the familiar faces of friends at the fun gathering.As it was Poonam Dhillon's birthday, Jackie, Dash, Sunita, Pradeep Saxena and I hotfooted it to Juhu. We walked into the party to see Bharati Pradhan, Anita and Jaggi Shivadasani and a host of others raving it up on the dance floor. Blue margeritas were the order of the night, potent stuff that lethal drink but it got everyone in the right mood. Jagmohan Mundra our talented NRI director, just down from LA, kept me at my entertaining best. Gauri, Poonam's close friend, Rajlakshmi and Papa Rao, Sunita and Anil Kapoor and our glamorous hostess Poonam were the only one's I managed to talk to before the birthday girl whipped me to the dance floor. At one point I was dancing with both Anil and Jackie and remember thinking, thismust be the fantasy of a lot of the young ladies in the city. But we all go back so long in time as friends that it was a mere expression of pure fun. Truth be told, the older one gets the more you feel a need to reconnect with people you knew when you were young. It's so easy to slip back into an old friendship, it's almost impossible to make too many new one's.On a note of optimism, die-hard believer of woman's empowerment that I am, it was with a tremendous sense of awe and inspiration that I watched the political drama conclude last week. A lady politician Jayalalitha brought the government to it's knees. A lady politician Mayawati cast her party vote against the government to force it out of office. And perhaps now we will have a lady Sonia Gandhi leading the nation into the millennium. You have my vote ladies. Stay together and you can change the course of our nation forever. Come on India!
