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Swiss luxury watchmaker Franck Muller was in Hong Kong last week to meet the swarms of people in this territory who think nothing of forking out obscene amounts of money to buy his lifestyle accessories.

And in his honour, his local licensee organised a lavish Indian-themed party, to which were invited Hong Kong’s swish set. And what a party it was... To mark the exclusive event, the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue of the WTO ministerial meeting in 2005, was magically transformed into a Bollywood-style maharaja’s palace, complete with glittering props and splendorous decorations. Guests

shimmered in in opulent saris and sherwanis that would not have been out of place in a royal wedding. Muller, whose watches sell at the top-end for upwards of $2,00,000(about Rs 80 lakh), was attired in the regalia of a Punjabi prince with a flamboyant headgear.

What’s with the Indian-themed party? Apart from the association of Brand India with the luxury image, there is some speculation that the enterprise was intended to signal the fact that Muller plans to introduce some Indian designs in his watches.

Muller himself was less than forthcoming with details. Perhaps he is just waiting for a more propitious ‘time’ to make his announcement... From high-end luxury to spartan spirituality... Also last week, three Indian traditional healers from India were in town to showcase their ‘natural healing’ techniques to an audience that is hungry for New Age health practices.
Nuclear scientist and Vedic research scholar Dr Mannem Murthy, who has invented a slew of devices that rely on Vedic and scientific principles, showcased his ‘universal scanner’, which he claims can detect the body’s negative energy.The ‘aura scanner’, as it’s also called, can also detect ‘geopathic stress’ or ‘negative energy’ in buildings and human bodies. Murthy claims that infra-red radiation emissions suck human energy, and objects emitting such radiation must be isolated and removed. Energy healers Dr Geeta and Master Yuvraj also gave lectures on vaastu principles.The cynical may dismiss all this as New Age mumbo-jumbo, but there are plenty of takers for traditional healing techniques.
At a luncheon event organised by the Asia Society, China’s Ambassador to India Zhang Yan gave a talk in which he shared his personal perspective on Sino-Indian relations. As Society vice-chairman Ronnie Chan pointed out, Ambassador Zhang’s power point presentation was unusually lively, quite unlike the dour presentations characteristic of Chinese officials. Zhang painted a rosy picture of Sino-Indian relations, but felt that there was a case for “bridging the gap in understanding” by enhancing political trust between the two countries. Pointing to media concerns in India about Chinese attempts to “establish a chain to encircle India”, Zhang said it was not in China’s interest to “undertake this kind of strategic move... We see India as a partner.”