Surprises galore

The best surprises come in small packages I've always been given to believe. Being invited to a surprise party, and the L'Oreal Elite model ...

The best surprises come in small packages I8217;ve always been given to believe. Being invited to a surprise party, and the L8217;Oreal Elite model look of the year contest took a certain amount of deft social jugglery! Surprises that were galore! Packages of every size and proportion oozing every kind of 8217;90s dream merchant spiel. But in our desh the Jane-come-lately attitude always gets you the best seats in the house. So late I arrived only to sit behind a pillar serves you right Pillai, I thought to myself! Now you8217;ll be lucky if you see favourite friend-singer Shweta8217;s shoes let alone her gown or her gorgeous angel face. Friend Arjun Khanna kindly brought me a chair which further reduced my vision by half but Mehr Moos, with her cheerie bonhomie had me smiling in no time.

Then I did get lucky, I was told by two heavies that Pradeep Guha himself had asked for me to be escorted to the front, but only me. I demurred but all my protests were brushed aside and I was duly escorted to four rows down and to theright of the stage, perfect seats, but when they tried to edge me further up, I firmly sat down and refused to budge. The shame of coming so late, expecting a good seat and getting one was mortifying to say the least. So I sat glued, head bowed chastely, for the next couple of minutes.

Upon overcoming my short-lived feeling of self consciousness and shyness, I looked on at the show. The girls were utterly, butterly, delicious, their legs seemed to go on endlessly. I felt, standing by them later at the party, that their legs seemed to start where my ears ended had to console myself with the best surprises line! Anyway the girls, without exception, had grace, beauty and a stamp of confidence. Perhaps the TOI should start a regular grooming and beauty school. I am sure they8217;d rake it in, and it could be the feeder source to their contests. The team that prepares the girls is so, so professional it shows as each of the contestants walks the ramp. Oomph and chutzpah oozing from every pore.

I couldhear a fair amount of teeth-gnashing and meows of envy from the fair sex in the audience. As for myself I took solace in the line, quot;There goes my old body8230;quot;

Suresh Bhojwani8217;s twinkling eyes got me to move one row up to sit by him, his lovely wife Devika and sister-in-law Malvika. Talk of sisterhood there. The two sassy sisters sure have it.

Then the stage exploded with the awesome talent and Aztec princess-look of the one-and-only Shweta Shetty. I had goose bumps down the length and breadth of my small package8217; Bod! Can that lady sing, dance and shout: quot;Hi Nina! Suresh, Devika where is Pradeep Guha? Happy Birthday to you!quot;

She had us rivetted. I admit to being extremely partial to my close girlfriend but I admire her chutzpah and courage! For she was in a nasty accident last year which left her on crutches, barely able to hobble and here she was being tossed up in the air by a group of hunks running, jumping, dancing, prancing et al. With a joie de vivre that only a true survivordisplays! Takes one to know one.

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The rest of the contest and show was just academic. We traipsed into the Ballroom, had some liquid sustenance, sashayed like the models, at least tried to, and said Hi! to one and all. Then it was a mad dash with a quick salutation to friend Jackie Shroff in his Arab avatar head gear8217; and all.

Aarti, Kailash and I were all of three hours late for the surprise party so we slunk in through Akshay Chudasama8217;s the host8217;s kitchen only to bump straight into Arjun Mehra, the birthday boy and the gorgeous peaches-and-cream-skinned Nisha the other hostess!. Apologies and greetings done with, we mingled, pontificated, chanted and finally called it a night when a friend came and told me of the awful circumstances of his father8217;s recent demise. It killed the evening for me unnatural deaths still have the power to comatose me with pain, anger and frustration. And the unanswerable question: Why, my Lord, why?

When will the perpetrators for the most gruesome crime of all,murder8217;, ever be brought to justice? Can a nation that is nuclear proud afford the kalank of not catching the real culprits of a murder? Reason forsakes one at times like this.

Does anyone care? Leaders are but representatives of the people and if they don8217;t grasp the mood of the people a real surprise will come to them via a small people package so watch out for people power. Ballistic just ain8217;t good enough!