The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Dia Mirza and Shilpa Shetty Kundra
An uber luxe shadi
Just when we thought the big fat Indian wedding couldn’t get any fatter, we got this news: Rizwan Sajan (the Sajan family hails from Mumbai), who moved to Dubai in the ’90s, and went on to become one of the most powerful Indian business tycoons there, is all set to celebrate his son’s wedding in April aboard a luxury cruise ship.
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Sajan has booked an entire ship from a luxe Italian fleet company that also hosted the curtain raiser of a fashion week in Mumbai last month. Costa Fascinosa will set sail from Genoa in Italy and will dock at Barcelona, Marseilles and Cannes, before the celebrations end at Savona. How can a huge affair like this not flaunt a Bollywood tadka? Celebs like Dia Mirza, Gauhar Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, composers Vishal-Shekhar are all on the guest list.
A world of books
How many of us know of at least one book from every nation of the world? If you are shaking your head like us, take this biblio-tour of the globe put together by a Reddit user who goes by the name Backforward24.
Pic/REDDIT/BACKFORWARD24
While the choice of representing India with God of Small Things may have its critics up in arms, and Shakespeare’s fans may find it tragic to see Pride and Prejudice on England’s map, there is no contending the fact that this was a painstaking effort.
So, how about giving that bestseller in your bag a miss and picking up a copy of Dom Casmurro from Brazil? Happy reading!
Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Smiles all around
Kids from an NGO surround actress Alia Bhatt at a special screening of Beauty and the Beast she hosted for them in Santacruz yesterday.
Twitter tussles
It all started when a Congress spokesperson notified the media that the party’s vice president Rahul Gandhi was going to accompany mother Sonia Gandhi for a medical check-up abroad.
Barkha Dutt; Sagarika Ghose
Quick to respond, journalist Sagarika Ghose tweeted, "Bye bye @OfficeOfRG have a nice break. All this politics stuff is just so exhausting." The Twitter world, which is otherwise rife with jibes at Rahul, came together in his support, calling Ghose’s remark insensitive.
While Omar Abdullah said, "Almost nowhere else in the world does the media slave drive politicians like this" fellow journalists Barkha Dutt and Nidhi Razdan too disagreed vehemently with Ghose’s views. After profusely apologising for hurting sentiments, Ghose took down the post.
Horsing around
The famous Dubai-based British gastropub, The Stables, is galloping its way into the city. As a special treat, they’re organising an exclusive cocktail workshop with The Stables’ bartenders James Birch and Stefan Jovanovic, from Dubai, today.
(Left) James Birch and Stefan Jovanovic
They intend to showcase four Stables’ signatures — Wind Suck (vodka, cucumber, honey), Stables Grog — a fusion of Jamaican rums and Angostra bitters, an Oscar Sangria with Merlot wine, brandy, gin and orange curacao, and Cribber Ascot — rum lemon, orange and grenadine syrup.
We hear that invitees have been sent a kit with cigars, two specially created fragrances, and miniature alcohol bottles. What a way to make an entry, we say.
Wada power
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation took part in the three-day Internationale Tourismus Borse Berlin 2017, held from March 8 to 12.
(From left) MTDC officials Swati Kale, KH Govinda Raj, bureaucrat Valsa Nair Singh
The world’s largest travel trade fair, this was not just about numbers and scope though. With its theme of Wada, the traditional residential form of Maratha architecture evolved under the reign of the Peshwas, the MTDC stall wove in a bit of history.
Mumbaikars may not see this architectural style often, but Pune boasts of some famous wadas like Vishrambaug Wada, Dhepe Wada and Puneri Wada.
Interestingly, the wadas have been romanticised here too to push for tourism and reinforce the ‘Visit Maharashtra 2017’ campaign. An Internet search, however, will throw up myriad reports about wadas on their last legs, or wobbly on ground and even in the pages of history, as they continue to be replaced by modern housing. Maybe beyond a symbolic celebration, a wada conservation and tourism project should be given a new thrust to preserve this old style, residential legacy.
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