Twinkle Khanna's The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad crosses 1lakh sales mark

Nico Goghawala Kamal Sidhu and Ranjit BarotYou heard it here first The next big food wine live music and culture hub that will most likely take Mumbai by storm is going to be The Quarter located inside the Royal Opera House when Nico Goghawala Ranjit Barot Ashutosh Phatak and Nakul Toshniwal launch their ambitious new venture at the citys newly refurbished jewelActually Kamal thought up the name over dinner at Ranjit Barot and Mayas one evening said Goghawala when we spoke to him yesterday on his way to a game of tennis at his favourite club Its actually a dream project because the four of us bring such different things to the table Ranjit as is known has spent his entire life dedicated to music Phatak also a musician was one of the people behind Blue Frog and in many ways was instrumental in getting the whole live music thing going in Mumbai Toshniwal who recently married actresspsychiatrist Neha Dubey is a man with a strong financial head and theres me with my food background he saidThe venture is a slew of four FampB spaces a Parisian Cafe a wine and mozzarella bar a New Orleansstyle jazz club with creoleinfluenced dishes and a space for live jazz in the compound with food that fits into the atmosphere and is slated to open its doors in September in a phased launchAs for the sparkling new venue Goghawala laughed Its a running joke actually When people ask us where in the Opera House are we planning to open we say In the Opera House and never fail to get a smile Its such an iconic locationTwinkles juggernautThe Twinkle Khanna publishing juggernaut shows no signs of slowing Word comes in that her second book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad has crossed more than 1 lakh copies in sales in less than a year of release making it something of an industry record Its incredibly rare for short story collections to be a commercial success in India With this achievement she has completely bucked this trend in publishing says Anish Chandy of the publishing companyTwinkle KhannaWhen I was writing The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad I was rather apprehensive because not only was it a departure from Mrs Funnybones but I was told time and again that people are not interested in anthologies so I feel truly gratified with the success of the book says Khanna who we are informed is already on to her third bookWork work workFor long designer Manish Malhotra has taken great delight in describing himself as a middleclass Punjabi boy What he forgets to add is that this comes with a heightened sense of work ethic making him almost a workaholic No surprises then that on the heels of his finale at a recently concluded couture show this weekend in Delhi the designer is set to present his Festive 2017 collection as the finale at an upcoming fashion week later this month in MumbaiManish Malhotra at workAnd while the collection is sure to reflect his signature glamour whats interesting is that Malhotra has donned his geek hat for it last year hed joined the ranks of Oscar de la Renta when he shot his Festive 2016 Collection for Virtual Reality The new collection features work thats been conceptualised entirely on a new software productBut even as he rolls this out what no one knows is that Malhotra is working on an even more exciting new enterprise His next big hush hush project which will be announced towards the end of this year according to sources is with an international champagne house and the designer has designed an exclusive label for its produce From Bollywood to tech to bubbly Workaholicism never had it so goodOld friends new ventureThey are easily two of the more attractive leaders in the Congress party and news that Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and former MP from South Mumbai Milind Deora have been appointed to lead the newly launched All India Professionals Congress a platform dedicated to engage with the countrys taxpaying professionals has been welcomedShashi Tharoor and Milind DeoraThe idea is said to have been originally mooted by Tharoor a few years ago but had not been embraced by party workers Today with the Modi wave said to be predicated to a large part on the aspirations of Indias urban professional demographic it appears to be an idea whose time has comeIts the firstofitskind platform that has been created for taxpaying professionals to have their voice and their industrys voice heard and contribute to progressive politics in India said Deora when we spoke to him yesterday As for Tharoor who he will be working with on the initiative there is no doubt that the two share a pretty similar worldview Both are techsavvy urbane baby boomers and Tharoor had been a longtime friend of the Deoras making it a point to drop in to see Milinds dad Congress leader the late Murli Deora every time hed visit IndiaIve known Shashi since I was a student in the US and Im proud of all he has achieved as a diplomatturnedprofessional politician said Deora Will this initiative manage to make friends and influence people for the Congress Watch this spaceOn the wine trailMadhulika Bhattacharya aka Madame La Cave is relentless in her pursuit of bringing the best international wines to the Indian table This week will see the Delhibased oenophile and wife of Aman Dhall one of the countrys largest importers of spirits host a sitdown dinner in Mumbai which promises to showcase wines from Washington states oldest wineryMadhulika BhattacharyaThese include Chardonnays Rieslings and Pinot Noirs of star quality Tuesday evening saw a fivestar in Delhi host a similar evening at its finedining Japanese eatery to great acclaim next on Bhattacharyas itinerary are Bengaluru Pune and Mumbai