It was a cerebral meet where Mumbai's celebs sat shoulder-to-shoulder discussing the divides that estrange our society culturally, economically, traditionally and regionally. The launch of the fourth issue of Bina Sarkar Ellias' magazine Gallerie at Crossword last week the had omnipresent Dolly Thakore, INTACH's Tasneem Mehta, sculptor Navjot Altaf, artist Shankar Menon and the audience share their personal experiences of feeling alienated because they were either Muslims or Christians.

Before the discussion on Gallerie's central theme of divides galloped into a heated parley, theatre personality Alyque Padamsee's son Quasar Padamsee and his group staged excerpts from plays based on the issue, bringing to the forefront many a young talent including Ellias' teenage daughter Yuki. The only person who sat pretty through the debate was actress Kitu Gidwani, much aware of the cameras focussed on her. We wonder what Ms Gidwani has to say on the issue. Or was she there to make astatement?

Timeless

The launch of the Tank Basculante, the latest Cartier baby, was an unusual do last week. Yann Bouillonnec, Cartiers' regional sales executive based in Hong Kong, flew down specially for this momentous occasion. The watch, silver-grain dial with Roman numerals and all, promises to be yet another addition to the already gorgeous Cartier collection. Bouillonnec said that Cartier hopes this latest addition to their stable will have a lot of takers. From the looks of the hordes that turned up for the preview held last week, looks like they will.

And finally...

Sushmita Sen's visit to Sheetal on Wednesday, threw the stuffy streets of Grant Road totally out of gear. While Ms Sen who was there to hand over a car to the winner of the Sheetal Good Buy contest flashed her fabulous smile to everyone in sight, her presence resulted in a minor riot, what with the police struggling to keep the crowd at bay. Meanwhile, Sush obliged them all, waving and blowing kisses to thedelirious gathering and obliging star-struck autograph hunters. One child was actually carrying a Mathematics text book in hand, and while Ms Sen didn't disappoint him, she was quick to quip, "If I sign your book, I'll get a sound hearing from your teacher." Now you only wish the rest of the star brigade could boast of this deadly combination of looks, class and wit.