Business pagesGita Piramal's book, Business Maharaja's, was released in London this week by Lord Caines, the chairperson of BAT industries. To celebrate the event the CII held a lunch for Gita at the Bombay Brasserie. This book traces the rags to riches stories of many of India's top industrialists including Dhirubhai Ambani. Her lunch was attended by the who's who of the business world including Rahul Bajaj, Swaraj Paul, S P Hinduja and Jamshyed Godrej. Gita is now working on her second book, Business Legends, which should hit the stands later this year.Party TimeJewellery designer Paulomi Sanghavi has become one of the hottest names in the world of gems. Her stylish store (the interiors were done by Zarine Khan's daughter Sussane), next to China Garden, is home to some really exquisite pieces of jewellery.On Friday night she celebrated her birthday, and did it in style. Seen at the party were Sharad Kapoor, Puru Raj Kumar (who you could not miss in a bright blueshirt), Neelam, Pradeep Guha, fellow jewellery designer Farah Khan and fiance Aqueel, Manisha Koirala with boyfriend Hussain, who was the deejay for the night, and designers Anna Singh and Rocky S. Nirmal and Meera Zaveri of TBZ, who Paulomi started her career with, entered late. But the jewel who really dazzled all night was the birthday girl who kept dragging everyone to the dance-floor.Birthday BoyAnother birthday which is being celebrated in pomp and style is that of Kishan Mulchandani. This owner of Palki is hosting a series of parties to celebrate his birthday, which falls later this week. The celebrations started on Sunday with a lunch at his restaurant. And the invitees enjoyed themselves so much that the lunch virtually turned into dinner. Once again it was the dance-floor that was the centre of activity; so much so that it almost seemed like a Saturday night do. Spotted on the floor were Aarti Surendranath, Nina Pillai, Neelam, Arjun Khanna, Sanjeev Choudary and Marc Robinson. Butthat's not all. The big bash will continue on Tuesday. And this time the venue will be the suburban nightspot, Razzbery Rhinoceros.Hamara BajajWas the head of the Bombay Club at the wrong place this Sunday? Rahul Bajaj, one of the prominent exponents of the level-playing field and globalisation with a swadeshi touch - a theory that took him close to the BJP - was at Murli Deora's lunch in honour of Sonia Gandhi. The most vocal and visible supporter of the BJP's swadeshi theory, Bajaj, shared the table with Sonia.When Deora introduced him to Gandhi, Bajaj opened the conversation with, "In Mumbai I am known as the BJP man" and followed it up with "that's not quite true". Later he was cornered by Najma Heptullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad and another discussion on his political colours followed.The din of heated political discussion made it difficult to find out who won the argument. But one question that lingers is whether this is the harbinger of troubles to come for the BJP.Coke'sgirlKarisma Kapoor is one lucky girl. First she made a huge packet by doing the Dabur Amla Hair oil advertisement, on a recommendation from her Dil To Pagal Hai director, Yash Chopra. And now Coca Cola has signed her on to help them promote their soft drink during the festive season.Perhaps they are hoping that the award winning actress will be their Lakshmi during Diwali and boost their sales.Disco FeverThe World DMC DJ Mixing competition is to be held in this city for the first time at Famous Studio next month. As Tony Prince, the man behind the event puts it, "India is our 31st team. And why we weren't here all these years since the inception of the competition is because we needed the right kind of an Indian partner." Helping him make the announcement, at the 1900s, was Marc Robinson who was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night for some unknown reason and Rishma Malik. Is there any Channel [V] do that this chic does not attend? Ever since she has come to town, sheseems to be everywhere. Not that either of these two party animals hang around for long. They both had to rush for Peace Together '98 at Andheri which was at the other end of town. Normally all the women would really complain to see Marc leave so early but this time the women were more interested in the phirang. Thanks to Tony's good looks all the women were quite interested in hearing what he had to say.Wendell's WonderDesigner Wendell Rodericks has been very busy ever since he moved to Goa. His couture outlet has become the most important shopping outlet and he is now opening a French restaurant later this week. He has organised a big launch as well, for which many jet-setters will be in Goa. And that's not all. Wendell is holding a special exhibition of a young artist's work. Mamoonara's handpainted shirts, tunics and dupptas as well as her paintings will be available at his store all of this week. This young girl is an artist whose work has inspired Wendell. He hopes to continuepromoting Goan artists. The beach state seems to be bringing the best out of this designer.And finally.Spotted at njJazz by the Bay on Saturday night were Amrita Singh (her green shirt was so bright that no one could have missed her) and hubby Saif Ali Khan. Now there are all these rumours about the two not being happily married but on Saturday night they looked perfectly happy. Is this just another rumour about the Bollywood couple?
