A NATURAL ACTRESS: Divya Palat

Atta girl

She declined admissions to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell, for Stanford because only the latter would give her the choice to graduate with her favourite subjects Drama and Maths.

Besides this, 18-year-old Divya Palat, daughter of banker Raghu Palat, has packed in quite a bundle under her belt. For instance, she plays the paragon of purity, Sita in Aamir Raza Hussain's The Legend of Ram, after having performed in Hosi Vasunia's The Sound of Music. Before this ace photographer Adrian Stevens snapped her up for the Surf campaign, "since she was a natural child". Other campaigns that followed were the Dettol soap, the launch of Hindu in New Delhi and the Ravissant Children's Collection. Although she has chosen a career that is touted to be both glamourous and tough, she says: "One must do what one wants to. Or one can never excel. Hard work never killed anybody, just made them successful."

New weave

TO celebrate the launch of Tencel, a new fibre introduced to India, the Taj Ballroom was turned into a fashion forum. Last Thursday there was a special fashion show showing off the range of this versatile fibre which can mixed with any other fabric. The likes of Gautam Kapoor and Sheetal Malhar sashayed down the catwalk in clothes designed by some of India's top designers like Bobby & Manju Grover using this special fibre.

Watch out

IT was a week for visitors. Another foreigner in town was Emmanuel Breguet, direct descendent of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Breguet watches are among the most expensive in the world and they are celebrating their 250th anniversary. The owners of these esteemed timepieces included General Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander I. Emmanuel is the only family member involved in the business. He was previously working in the French Ministry of Civil Defence. Emmanuel has been on a whirlwind tour of the world promoting both Breguet watches and his new book Breguet, 250 Years of Creative History. It has taken three years of research to write the book and it will be available exclusively at the Beautiful Boulevard.

Rain dance

While the rest of Mumbai ran for cover from the pouring rain, Ness Wadia and his bunch of friends decided that it was a perfect day for a lazy barbecue. So under the shelter of their posh Worli residence,Ness & Co had ringside tickets to the first shower of the season.

And it seems Ness was not the only rich kid who decided to have some fun in the rain. Timmy Narang of the Ambassador Hotel (not to be confused with the Jazz By The Bay cousin and VJ Raageshwari's beau, Sanjay) had a pool party at his plush Pali Hill residence too. Obviously, the rain brings out the festive spirit in the city's glitterati.

And finally.... HAVE you noticed that the shutters of Bedroom's by Pooja have been closed for a couple of weeks now. This seems rather strange considering that Pooja Ibrahim nee Bedi has always claimed that she has more work than she can cope with. Wonder if it has anything to do with the visit of the stork?

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.