Hot banter from freezing Delhi

Gulzar is in the House

Our cousin, Lady Kishwar Desai, the author and indefatigable chair of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, which initiated the Partition Museum in Amritsar, informs that the first event to launch the Arts and Literature Festival of Amritsar (ALFA 2017) will be an interaction with poet lyricist Gulzar on partition and its memories at the museum, this February.

“He will be in conversation with Sukrita Paul Kumar and this will be followed by the staging of the play Kharaashein, directed by Salim Arif, based on his partition writings, which has been performed earlier to rave reviews and sold-out audiences. The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust is honoured to bring it to Amritsar for the first time,” she says.

Nice!

Once upon a time

It’s still spoken about as Delhi’s ‘Golden Period of Diplomatic Nights’, when the finest of conversations, personalities and cultures melded together to create a rare sparkle in the Capital. “It began in the late eighties and ended around the mid-nineties,” says entrepreneur, hostess and all round gypsetter Bina Ramani, whose boutique ‘Once Upon A Time’ at the Qutub had lent the era its sartorial flourish.

“There were couples like the Wisners, Frank who was the American ambassador and his lovely wife Christine. The Petits, the sparkling Anne-Marie and her dashing husband the late Philippe who was the French ambassador and of course the Turkish ambassador at that time Murat Sunger with his graceful wife Ayse,” says Ramani, whose extended wedding celebrations to Canadian Georges Mailhot almost 22 years ago had taken place in many of these elegant drawing rooms. “In those days the diplomats engaged much more with Delhi society. They were full of curiosity, warmth and bonhomie,” she says. No surprises then that Ramani has been roped in to try and recreate the magic.

“The Sungers are visiting Delhi for about eight days when they are accompanying the incoming new Turkish ambassador, Sakir and his wife Layla Torunlar,” she says. “Murat is keen that we all come together like the ‘old times’ and give the new couple a rousing welcome at a wonderful Turkish Fiesta next weekend at the Turkish ambassador’s residence,” says the effervescent hostess who has put together a guest list for the occasion.

“As I have a Turkish sister-in-law, Semiramis, I can assure you, they sure know how to celebrate life,” says Ramani. Indeed.

Of single malts and paneer roulades

A rather delicious serving of the Capital’s ‘cool crowd’ (the ‘have-jodhpurs-and-Gucci loafers-will -travel’ lot) was witnessed this Wednesday at Rohit Khattar’s Indian Accent when media maven Archana Vijaya and husband industrialist Dheeraj Puri hosted an evening on behalf of a celebrated Single Malt.

Seen enjoying the food, spirits and conversations were the likes of design moguls Rahul and Simran Rai, designers Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, fashion entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla, businessman and polo enthusiast Sanjay Kapoor, fashionista sisters Priya and Charu Sachdev and restaurateur AD Singh, amongst others. The highlight of the evening according to sources was not only the spicy caramelised prawn and the paneer roulade (yikes!) but that some of the Capital’s most 

notorious ‘late lateefs’ showed up at 8.30 pm sharp for the seated dinner!  “Padma Shris ought to have been handed out,” said one grande dame dryly.

Sicily in Jaipur

We caught our friend Vivek Sahni , the aesthete and founder CEO of Kama, the luxury Ayurveda beauty brand, on Friday evening just as he was boarding his flight to Jaipur where he launched a specially created limited edition candle for Jaipur’s hipster Caffé Palladio over the weekend.

“Soon after we’d been commissioned to create Fiori d’arancio inspired by the aromas of Sicily, I happened to visit Italy and reacquainted myself with its distinct and heady aromas,” said Sahni. “We came up with a handmade soy wax candle with the essential oils of lime, neroli and cypress that instantly transport you to sunlit gardens of Sicily, Italian orange blossoms, dense bougainvillea, broody cedars and briny sprays of the sea…” he says.

Incidentally, Caffé Palladio is the latest project of the celebrated Bar Palladio in Jaipur and was the go-to place for the more aesthetically inclined of literature luvvies during JLF.

Two Down

Spare a thought for Delhi ‘Shoshiety’ these past few weeks. Not one, but two scions from two of its leading Punjabi Business Clans have recently had serious run-ins with the law and have faced incarceration.

The first, who fancies himself as something of a Rambo was apprehended on a hunting spree with his pals that makes a Russian oligarch’s night look like a teddy bear’s picnic.

The other incarcerated scion, of an equally renowned surname, has also been in the clinker these past few weeks. This gent’s falling, his friends swear, has been his rather overgenerous heart. Apparently, he’s lived way beyond even his own means (which are considerable). “Sixtieth birthdays celebrated in Prague, in castles, black tie dinners at his residence and unrivalled hospitality” they rue. The result? Borrowing of large sums from institutional and non-institutional lenders who have ganged up and pulled the rug on him. “But what’s most shocking,” fume his friends, “is that the very same people who were wining and dining at his home in the past are the ones busy distancing themselves from him in his hour of need. So typical.”

Interestingly, two other braggadocios from equally well heeled Delhi business clans have also been caught in the Rambo Rumble in the Jungle spree and had to cool their heels in the clinker. Tch Tch.