At a rather low-key, very formal wine and cheese affair, Evian announced the launch of their water and brumisateur at the Oberoi last week.

For those who wish to capture their youth forever with the aid of `untouched water' from the French Alps, here's the opportunity, touted the company. Priced between Rs 30 and Rs 80 -- for a 250 ml to a 1.5 litre pack -- we think it better be worth the results. The surprising thing was that they did not find it necessary to find any `youthful' examples -- other than model Aditi Govitrikar -- to support their product launch. But then, perhaps the company felt that no one could match up to international Evian drinkers like Madonna and Demi Moore.

Patriot song

And now, Vande Mataram 2. This time, not by Sony Music. Nor sung by A R Rahman. It's was an out and out HMV show, sung by Lata Mangeshkar. The cassette is a compilation of eight numbers, in different styles. For instance, there's Jai Jai Mataram by renowned singer ShubhaMudgal and a prose tribute to Mother by Om Puri. Lata Mangeshkar, as usual, has done justice to Vande Mataram -- it makes you feel more than proud to be Indian.

The launch was held last week, a formal affair at The President. While the place was was brimming with bigwigs and film types, none of them stayed around too long. Seen there were all the head honchos of HMV, Harsh Goenka included, who came and went in a flash. Harish Dayani, head of HMV, stayed longer but was cagier than a clam when asked how he managed to pull the deal from Sony Music. "No pulling. Bharat (the producer of the concept) and I are friends. So..." he trailed off.

Other than that he refused to divulge any information. Strange behaviour!

Also in attendance were Yash Chopra, Jagjit Singh -- who felt very hurt that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was not mentioned even once, and let everyone know -- Ranjit Barot, and a few other bigwigs people from the music industry. Of course, the star of the evening was the Nightingale of IndiaLata Mangeshkar.

She was sweet and courteous to everyone but she too left rather early.

Gifts galore

Industrialist Ajay Piramal took time off his hectic schedule, last week, to inaugurate the Giftex exhibition, at Nehru Centre. Organised by Vickram Sethi (who also runs the Arts Trust), a few artists were spotted going through the show. Also seen were Kahini Arte Merchant, the Oberoi's Poonam Malhotra and architect Samir Chinoy.

Nina's nite

Nina Pillai and her son, Kris, proved that together they are the city's best hosts. On Monday night, at a small gathering, they personally supervised the party proceedings. Nina went around checking that everyone had a drink in hand and Kris played DJ for the night. Among the guests who were really getting into a swing of things were Madhu Sapre, who was washing down caviar canapes with French red wine, and Suchitra Pillai, who looked stunning in a new black dress she had picked up in London. Also spotted were Pratap Gaikwad, Kishen Mulchandani,Czaee Shah and Tina Tahiliani-Parikh. While all eyes may have been glued to the models, all ears were pricked in the direction of the garden. That evening seemed to play host to a fashion designer's gossip session. Huddled together were Arjun Khanna, James Ferreira and Tarun Tahiliani. But all conversation came to a standstill when Nina's close friend Beer Baron, Vijay Mallya, made a surprise entrance. As usual no one seemed to want to leave and the party rocked till the foundation of the house shook.

Wedding bells

But the event that dominated the week was the wedding of Akshay Chudasama (the son of Nana Chudasama) to Aparna Mehta (from one of the city's leading diamond families). A high-profile lawyer, the 28-year-old Akshay is a well known face in the city's social circuit. Generally spotted with leading industrialists, it came as no surprise when best buddy Gautam Singhania hosted a bachelor bash for the groom, on Thursday. A strictly-by invitation affair, Akshay's old friends, like Parthiv andNandesh Khilachand, turned up at the roof-top bash. The next day, Akshay's sisters, Brinda and Shaina NC, organised a party at The Drawing Room. A furniture store by day, the shop floor was turned into a dance floor when a few guests got up and shook a leg. Spotted at the party were Arti and Kailash Surendranath, Suresh and Devika Bhojwani, Arjun Rampal (minus Mehr), Anish and Vineeta Trivedi, Parthiv Khilachand and Gautam Singhania. The generally quiet Rampart Row area rocked to the music of Ghulam and other Hindi film songs till the wee hours.

A few more parties followed but the grand finale was the actual wedding reception, last night. Held at the Oberoi, over 2,500 people turned up. It was as if Nana and Munira Chudasama had opened the directory and invited everyone who mattered -- and they all showed up. Even though the card said six pm to nine pm, the guests did not leave till midnight.

Party, party

Incidentally, you couldn't go anywhere without spotting Palkhi's Kishen Mulchandani.But since it was his birthday week -- and he hosted two parties -- his high-profile social life was easy to understand. The first do, on Tuesday night, at the Razzberry Rhinoceros, was attended by just about everyone. From the usual party animals like Marc Robinson and Sumeet Chopra to Bollywood starlets like Suman Ranganathan -- the Juhu night spot wore a real mix of Mumbai society. And though it was a working day, the party ended after breakfast. Birthday boy Kishen looked like he was having a ball -- aided and abetted no doubt by the stiff drinks the bar was churning out! Two day's later, Kishen had another do at HQ, in Colaba. This party was more sober -- we think that's because everyone was still nursing a hangover.

And finally...

Indians are really hogging the headlines in the West, these days. First Hello! magazine did a feature on Gulu Lalvani and his children. Then, his ex-wife, Vimla Lalvani, had a spot on Breakfast Television teaching yoga. And now Anuradha Mahindra'sVerve launch party has made it the society pages of several newspapers, in London. Both Hello! and the Daily Mail have devoted editorial space to Anuradha's bash. India Weekly -- a paper for NRIs -- however completely missed the point. They identified Anuradha as `Anand's better half'! Either they do no research or they were being deliberately dense.