Jetset Junkies

Similarly, event manager Sharmilla Khanna has her professional base in Mumbai where she lives with her daughter Shaan. Yet every two weeks or so, she hops on to a flight to catch up with hubby Sandiip who works in Bangalore and stays for around ten days with him. Her time in the garden city is spent lazing around at the KGA Golf Club, while her husband and daughter practice their golf swings.

Choreographer and Bangalore boy Prasad Bidapa logs a minimum of three cities a month — Mumbai, Delhi and Goa top the list. ‘‘I also make a monthly trip to my beautiful coffee estate in Coorg,’’ he says. Professional model-turned-yoga enthusiast Aditya Bal says constant upheaval breaks the monotony. This wild child has wings on his heels: in the last three years he has not only shifted multiple times between three cities, but he’s also switched careers with an almost predictable frequency. He moved from Delhi, where he was modelling and working for an architect’s firm, to Mumbai to be with his girl. Boredom soon kicked in and he took eight months out in Goa, where he opened a clothes store, Blow@Goa, to earn some cash. When this ran its ground, it was Delhi again, working for uncle Rohit Bal’s garment business. But he found himself stagnating there, so he was back in Mumbai to model. And, when he attended a yoga session by Bharat Thakur recently, it was enough to convince him that he also wants to be a yoga instructor. ‘‘Some people shift around because they get transferred — in my case, I chose to do it myself,’’ he says.

The best part about living in many places all at once is that you always have a haven to run to when you want to take time off. Veteran photographer Gautam Rajyadhaksha’s home and heart may be in Mumbai, but his cottage in the alpine retreat of Kunoor near Ooty, where he spends four months a year, is where he’s at peace. ‘‘Kunoor’s slow pace lets me follow my own time-table and I can spend time doing things I enjoy, like reading, cooking and losing myself in western opera which is not just a passion, but almost a study.’’ So for a change of pace, he turns on Placido Domingo or Verdi and breathes in the crisp air. He also considers his Kunoor cottage (complete with opera posters) his second home. The only things he takes along are books, music and home-cooked delicacies like smoked fish.

Getting away from work is not the only reason to take off — some even do it to get work done! Artist Manjeet Bawa has two fully-equipped studios — one in Delhi and the other in Dalhousie where he spends five months of the year. He uses the undisturbed quality time in Dalhousie to start working on his canvases and then transports them to Delhi where he adds the finishing touches.

‘‘I hate rules and don’t limit myself to living in one place at a time,’’ says Delhi-based designer Malini Ramani, who bought herself an apartment on Goa’s Calangute beach a couple of years ago. It started out as an escape from Delhi, but then her business sense took over. So, she now mixes work with play — her store Malini Ramani in Goa sells her label, in addition to swimwear, bags and accessories. She flies to Goa around eight times a year to recharge her batteries which have been frazzled by Delhi living and also to oversee her beach baby.

Ramani says that Goa is where she feels free from Delhi’s claustrophobic atmosphere. ‘‘I feel at home in Delhi, but when I’m in Goa I can sit on the beach, meeting and interacting with people from all over the world — there is a transparency there. I chat with the customers and even meet up with them later. It’s so easy to meet new people and to make friends. This kind of easy camaraderie is just not possible in Delhi.’’

Ramani is not the only one who enjoys the change in the party circuits. Says Bidapa, whose social life is quite a rollercoaster, ‘‘When I’m in Bangalore I socialise very little, as I prefer to spend time with my family. But when I’m working in Mumbai, all the fashion shows always end in big bashes, so I’m invariably partying.’’ Visits to Delhi see him spending time with close friends like designers Suneet Varma and Rohit Bal. Of course, when he’s in his Goa apartment, he just chills out at home or on the beach.

Socialite Nina Pillai does the heave-ho between Mumbai, which is her current home and base and Delhi, which is the home of fiance Hariram Sastri (Mumbai’s favourite society lady will soon move full-time to the capital). When she’s in Delhi, she’s sucked up in the whirlwind that is the Delhi social and cultural life. Exhibitions, gallery openings, antique shops and glitzy parties are where Pillai is most spotted. This means she carts around ‘‘everything but the kitchen sink’’. Her Louis Vuitton has to include her Bhagwad Gita, CDs, photos of her sons, a medical kit and, most importantly, bags and accessories matching all her outfits. She is more picky about the dos she attends in Mumbai, but you can never keep Pillai away from a party too long.

Comparisons between home and adopted cities are, of course, inevitable. Singer Shubha Mudgal, whose current home is Mumbai, has lived in Delhi all her life and still has family and students there. ‘‘I am more accustomed to Delhi’s climate and culture. Also, Mumbai is more impersonal and much more professional than the capital.’’ Sharmilla Khanna is not so generous in her views. ‘‘Bangalore’s slow pace makes me desperate to come back to Mumbai after a few weeks. There’s nothing much to do there, while in Mumbai the atmosphere is so much more energetic.’’

There definitely seem to be some cultural differences between Indian cities, but Mallar feels that we have a lot in common with her country-in-law — Italy. ‘‘I was surprised when I noticed the similarities between Italians and Indians. They both have a similar culture — joint families, children still living at home and not moving out, frequent family gatherings complete with freshly cooked, elaborate meals. And yes, Italian mothers are also very possessive of their sons!”

Yet she does admit that everything is not hunky dory. ‘‘Being away from my husband for months on end is quite painful,’’ she says ruefully. Others have a few complaints too. Ramani says that the biggest downside of this lifestyle is the cost factor. Travelling and the upkeep of two or more houses is quite expensive.

Bidapa laments that ‘‘the worst thing is waking up in the middle of the night and trying to figure out where you are.’’ He recalls a time when he was on a several-city tour with models. When they were in Delhi, he and the rest of the team decided to play a joke on one hapless male model. All of them pretended that they were in another city. After a while, the model was convinced he was in Bangalore, not Delhi.