17 February,2026 01:05 PM IST | Mumbai | Sonali Velinker Kamat
Pic/Shadab Khan
Despite belting out her cheers for Team India the night before, Raveena Tandon was back on cue at a Bandra recording studio on February 16. Clearly, the show - and the vocal cords - must go on.
The juiciest gossip is always traded in hushed tones - ironically, the same quiet whispers reserved for subjects like puberty, periods, pregnancy, and perimenopause. Enter society darling Mallika Timblo, who is turning that whisper into a rallying cry. Through her wellness startup, Terrapy, she is bringing candour, clarity, and much-needed volume to conversations women have long been told to keep quiet. As those who know her will tell you, entrepreneurship runs in her blood. Dad Dilip Kulkarni was the trailblazer behind Skypak Couriers (remember those incredible Skypak Man ads?), and Mallika certainly seems to have inherited his chutzpah. That said, her startup wasn't born from the urge to build a business - it emerged from a deeply personal reckoning with her own health. "I began experiencing perimenopause symptoms at 36 and felt confused and isolated about what was happening to my body," Mallika tells us. Out of that turbulence came a clear conviction: women's wellbeing must be sustainable and science-led - not trend-driven, and never treated as taboo. While the brand offers products that address concerns including fertility issues, period cramps, and sleep disturbances, the greater goal isn't to push a packet - it's to shine a spotlight on these subjects, so that no woman struggles alone. And in amplifying what was once whispered, Timblo isn't just building a brand, she's helping rewrite the conversation altogether.
Still reeling from the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup action at the Premadasa on Sunday, we find plenty of excitement along the sidelines as well. While film stars like Arjun Rampal and veteran Anil Kapoor shared their post-match enthusiasm across an assortment of apps, it is the antics of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri that have captured our attention. Shastri was seen wearing a red sequinned suit and equally flashy fur coat in a recent ad for Google Gemini, prompting Sanjana Ganesan to suggest starting a petition to get him to wear the outfit to a coin toss as well. While that vision is a tad worrisome, we're waiting with bated breath for Gavaskar's promised spectacle: the little master told Suryakumar Yadav that he would break into a jig on March 8 if India lifts the T20 World Cup. Bhangra, ballet, or breakdance - it hardly matters, as long as we have reason to dance!
On Mahashivratri, the OG society-girl squad traded its cocktail dresses for kurta pajamas, and flew to Bangalore for a soul refresh. We spotted Queenie Singh and daughter Tiara Dhody with Roja star Madhoo, and the ever-gorgeous Prerna Goel, sitting enthralled in an audience of hundreds as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar led the celebrations at his Bangalore ashram. As we hear it, this was really a birthday celebration for Rhea Pillai, who plays Art of Living instructor and disciple with equal alacrity. A more intimate pooja marked Rhea's big day on Monday, with her nearest and dearest in attendance. From heartbreaks to high jinks, these ladies have survived every storm together for years - proving, once and for all, that the old adage needs a rewrite: the ladies who pray together, slay together.
Anyone who has lost a parent knows how hard it is to sift through their belongings. Some days, just thinking about them is trial enough. Kudos to Jamie Alter, who is bravely navigating this journey, and plans to release a biography of his actor father, Tom Alter, in 2027 - marking a decade since his demise in 2017. "Publishers approached me as early as 2019," Jamie confesses, "but you have to be in the right head space to do something like this." Then COVID arrived and everything went quiet, so it wasn't until last year that Jamie actually put pen to paper. "With a career spanning over four decades, there is plenty to say about my father," Jamie adds, explaining that this biography is far more than a recounting of milestones. "It's a memoir that also explores my relationship with him, so I guess you could call it a tribute." Sharing a gem from its pages, Jamie says: "Few know that after he graduated from Woodstock, my father studied at Yale. Within a year, he dropped out. This was during the draft and the Vietnam War. He didn't want to go to war for a country he felt no strong connection to. Not long after, he surrendered his American passport." With this book, grief turns to storytelling - preserving both legacy and love for posterity.
