Not leaving on a Jet plane

Suhel Seth and Abhishek Bachchan

A maelstrom had broken out earlier this week on Twitter when two garrulous gents known for their gifts of the gab, Abhishek Bachchan and Suhel Seth, began tweeting their exasperation at the tardiness of the airlines they were flying. It began last Saturday morning when Suhel Seth started getting increasingly irritated with the fact that he'd boarded his flight to Delhi along with all the other passengers and then the entire planeload was left to twiddle their thumbs on the tarmac because the pilot had not shown up.

"The callous behaviour of @jetairways needs to be taken cognisance of by the DGCA. Ready to go waiting for the goddamn Captain!" was one of his more polite outbursts. Unknown to him, Abhishek Bachchan was equally outraged for more or less the same reasons. "Well done Jet Airways!!! Entire plane boarded without any pilots on board. Still waiting and hoping..." he tweeted.

What brought the irascible gents together was producer Bunty Walia, obviously a common link. "That's what happened to us yesterday! Seated in d aircraft for an hour n half w no sign of d cockpit crew!" he'd tweeted. This happy confluence of grumblers then began to exchange a fair amount of grouses aimed at poorly managed airlines. What came in particularly for their criticism were the ham-handed PR responses to their critiques from the airlines.

Suhel even got the Aviation minister Jayant Sinha involved and tweeted to him, "Now that you're in the Civil Aviation Ministry, why don't you take steps to protect consumers from airlines like @jetairways?" That managed to evoke a satisfactory response from the minister.

His groovy holiness in NYC
Towards the latter part of Arundhati Subramanian's ‘More Than A Life' on Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, the author wonders if there is danger given his sociability, that her Guru could become a Page Three phenomena. The globe-trotting mystic motorcyclist allays her fears by explaining that his fraternising with the rich, famous and powerful is a necessary activity to get his message across to the largest numbers in the most effective ways.

Meera Gandhi and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Something of this nature appears to have occurred recently when his groovy holiness celebrated Diwali at the well-appointed home of uber NYC society hostess, the erstwhile Mumbai girl Meera Gandhi's sumptuous upper east side home. It had only last week witnessed her hosting a party for Cherie Blaire's birthday. Described as ‘an intimate gathering of 100 friends', Sadhguru's discourse was upbeat.

"The journey of life is joyful. Please live it joyfully and in peace. How fortunate we are to be alive on this earth now." It was followed by a ‘delicious hot vegetarian dinner and Mithai', according to the hostess, who presented her guests with copies of Sadhguru's book as return gifts. "It's a true guide for today's living," she was overheard telling guests. The message to the largest numbers in the most effective way, for sure.

What we'd like to know is this, since the object of Seth's and Bachchan's ire was Jet Airways, was chairman Naresh Goyal experiencing a hiccupping fit while all this took place? Given the high levels of anger on display the answer to that is, most likely.

No kids or weapons, please, we're British!
It appears to be a more than ordinary skittishness that has resulted in the wording of British high commissioner to Delhi, Sir Dominic Asquith's invitation to the reception he's hosting for visiting Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May next week in the Capital.

Theresa May

Of course, usual protocols and dress code requirements have been maintained. But, what points to a heightened level of security are the words - ‘Address will be disclosed later to the date' followed by the enigmatic ‘entry from Gate No 2'. Also we notice that ‘children' have been listed along with other banned items such as ‘weapons' and ‘photography'.

Of course, this will not deter the country's leading anglophiles, business leaders and glitterati from hotfooting it to the capital for their darshan.

More than a coincidence?
"Thank you so much for your wishes. Such a lovely time with all siblings and dad..." Lisa Haydon had texted in response to our congratulations on her marriage to London-based biz man Dino Lalvani yesterday. The actress who plays Ranbir Kapoor's ditsy, dumb, overly-Western, gold-digging ex in KJo's ADHM to delicious perfection, has been receiving many accolades for her spot on portrayal.

Lisa Haydon

But wait a minute, is the character she plays so well purely a figment of Karan Johar's imagination? Or has Ranbir Kapoor's ditsy, dumb, overly-Western, gold-digging ex in ADHM been created as a parody of a very real and living person? After all, weren't these the very reasons the star was weaned away from you-know-who only recently by his er..well-wishers? Jus' sayin'...

Cheque, please
The contentious payout that was recently demanded of a producer director for featuring a Pakistani actor, which offended so many, has attracted much comment. Now it turns out that things were not as simple when the demand was made in the first place.

Apparently, when the producer director had been called in to settle the matter by a top official, the demand had been that he donated 5 crores ‘to the party'. Knowing full well that it would have to be in cash and thus untraceable, the quick-witted gent had responded by suggesting that whereas he'd be quite happy to hand over the sum, why didn't he buttress the nationalist mood by making a cheque out to the Army Welfare Fund?

Of course, this noble suggestion took the powers-that-be by surprise, but they were in no position to turn it down, given the self-righteousness of their stand and so the producer director got his way and handed over the cheque. And the rest as they say is history. Phew!