Diamonds are a girl's best friend

When the rain God weeps fury on a parched earth, mere mortals are swept by the ferocity of collapsing walls and edifices. The water gallows of Aksa were the reality check of life's ebb and flow tide, but quagmired in this wretchedness is man's eternal quest of the afterlife. The elements of inclement nature paled when compared to the war of words exchanged by the Delhi and Mumbai 'boys' at last week's colourful pret fashion collections shown in the Capital. Rohit Bal, who worked like a demon to make the show a success, got into a verbal spat with Sandeep Khosla (who was part of the boycott brigade) and made a negative "Fat boy" of fashion comment that sent ripples through the cognoscenti - the reverberations of which will be felt from fashion's toast to coast for sometime.

Emotion ruled in an open confrontation that marred an otherwise jolly 40th birthday celebrations of my dear friend Kishen Mulchandani, where the whole of the upper tiers of Mumbai's social echelons heaved as one to wish the Birthday Boy. The names, surnames, flash, dash and cash all mingled in cuddly camaraderie, till the unfortunate exchange. Very large gatherings have the potential to hit flash point, as a combination of factors forces issues that are close to the heart to get pushed centerstage. But in these situations self control should reign.

Last week in Delhi, the focus of the fashion week were the shows themselves, with an affordable street-smart chic ruling, but more important was the effort put in by the organisers. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore who cares which is the fashion Mecca of India? What cuts a deeper swathe is that affordable 'pret' is a here and the shows I witnessed of Ritu Beri, Gitanjali Kashyap. Manish Arora and Rohit Bal all had a Western chic translated into an affordable Indian reality Note my emphaiss on affordable, I hate the old guard designers who want to stick to their six-figure couture. Outdated, over-sequinned and over-priced, these one-off creations don't give the average person fantasy space, let alone an occupying closet space, so to what effect are these pseudo fashionists?

Mumbai had a cable TV black out for two days, my favourite man of all seasons, Busybee, received cable while the rest of Mumbai sweated out the enforced blackout. I, with my son's Krish & Shiv, watched a DD programme Truck Dhina Dhin made by Rahul Mahajan (the IT Minister Pramod Mahajan's son). To say we were amused, entertained and thwacked out in a all for one & one for all Something About Mary kind of humour would be accurate, except we were starved and channel cruise was in mode denial, so true comparison will be made this week. To add to that dimension, I met Rahul over the weekend. Confident yet disarmingly reticent, he had that new genre rub off effect that comes from having a previous generation power parent still in the national limelight, good vibes? Yes! Here's to the future of a power generation.

Delhi was abuzz with the after fashion party dos. Vijay Mallaya hosted a mega event at the Taj Palace, and Suresh Kalmadi had an at home replete with the gold insignia invitation of an MP. Vijay's party started with a 'Hawaiian Aloha' at the door, Kingfisher beer and Black Dog scotch galore, the suave Kunal Goswami, the hunk Sharad Kapoor, the 'oh! so sensuous' Sunita Garware, Sunil Alagh, Vijay Malaya, Madhu Sapre, Ravi Krishnan, Bandana, Ashwini Khakkar, Kamal Khera and a host of friends, including the effervescent, indefatigable Mehr Moos added pizzaz. We were blissfully unaware and decibel deaf, an evening of gaiety and fun, with the pretty, petite talent of Sujata Assomull recording some of the action on reel for ELLE. Suresh Kalmadi's dinner the next night was a crisscross of 'politics meets industry meet media,' but most of all friends. Rahul Bajaj, Ramesh Chauhan, the Rt Hon Chief Minister Mr Deshmukh, Mr R K Dhawan, Dilip Cherian, the media power couple of Ashwini Kumar and wife Kiran, Shakun Mulchandani, Sunita Garware, Praful Patel, Dr Subbirami Reddy, Vinod Khanna, Uma with husband Ramesh Sharma and other faithfuls networked till midnight, and more.

Back in Mumbai, Raja Dhody had a house-warming at his new tres chic apartment, echoing his hospitality of the Imperial garden in Delhi last week, when well past two in the afternoon Ritu Sarin (the ace investigative journalist of The Indian Express), Raja, Queenie, Priya, Kailash, Aarti, Kunal and I ate till we felt we could lead the flotilla at a Chinese parade. The food, both at his restaurant and home, was out of this world and the warmth of true blue hospitality, that Raja wears as a mantle. Few are those that God blesses with a sense of true giving, the fact that they will never in turn receive the hospitality they gave, is a truism in which lies one of life's greatest lessons, only God can pay you back for unrequited hospitality and love. Ask me, I'm the living proof of it. Raja and Queenie had a small group of friends to their home, and in counting the decades we had known each other lay the ultimate comfort of a 'born again friendship.'

When it has never snapped how easy it is to pick up on the threads of friendship. In closing, I went to Anil and Anita Singh's rugby bash at Vinod's Nayyars terrace on the waterfront, rain clouds and wet weather didn't dither the thronging hundreds from having a rave. Rocky S, Mark Robinson, Prashant, Nitin, Sasha Sippy and I mingled but all too briefly before we bid Adios! In living every moment of life in inherent one of life's greatest truths, life and love hurt, yet we clamour for more. Finally a tribute to one of India's most dedicated and talented designer Hemant Trivedi, who came through the trials and tribulations of a horrific accident with true grit and courage, to choreograph the De Beers show this weekend. Though I missed the event due to a previous commitment, I salute Hemant's courage and verve. For the evening, the dress code was 'diamonds'. I leave you with a saying "a dog is a man's best friend, but diamonds are a girl's best friend."