A ball, Parliament and the Prezzie!

gtgt We like that Amitabh Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan have been invited as the guests of honour at the 17th edition of Bal de Let in Monaco hosted by Prince Albert II in aid of supporting the Monegasque Association of the Sovereign Order of Malta and the World Association of Childrenrsquos Friends Until now the playing fields of European royalty and socialites it is apt that this year mdash given the Ballrsquos Rajasthani princesrsquo theme mdash Indiarsquos best and brightest like Arvind Singh Mewar Abu and Sandeep and Raghavendra Rathore have also been invited Jaya Bachchan we are told will not be accompanying her family as Parliament will be in session Incidentally our Dilli jassoos tells us that now that Pranabdarsquos chances at pipping his rivals to the Prezzie post is more or less a given But the topic thatrsquos keeping the Dilli grapevine animated is whorsquoll be the next Fin Min Motherrsquos pride gtgt We cannot get over the poignant irony of Life Not only did the late Mona Kapoor die a month before her son Arjun Kapoorrsquos spectacular film debut in Ishaqzaade how proud she would have been but she missed her daughterrsquos graduation from Columbia University last week as well To cheer her on her father Boney Kapoor with his brother Sanjay flew down along with actor Shabana Azmi and made a jolly group in the audience when Obama delivered the keynote address And we could have sworn that up in the sky one star beamed brighter that night Honey Trap Extraordinaire gtgt That there are gangs of extortionists in Mumbai who target the wayward progeny of the rich and famous is something wersquove always known the way it usually works is that a pimp working on his own or in a group observes the target over weeks and then lays a honey trap out for him So rampant has the practice become that most socalled lsquoA listrsquo parents keep some kind of a security cover around their kids in case they become prey Which is why members of this inner circle overheard were particularly distraught when the son of a Mumbai tycoon got himself royally caught in a blackmailerrsquos net when he spent some quality time with a modeloccasional singer and actress at a city hotel and was filmed doing so ldquoIt cost the family almost Rs 4 crore to pay off the blackmailerrdquo said a city wit ldquomaking it the aspiring actressrsquo highest paid performance yetrdquo Meanwhile son and heir has now been provided a 24x7 bodyguard by his concerned dad Mumbairsquos Melting Pot gtgt Are there one too many new restaurants aiming to tickle Mumbairsquos palate Our head is reeling with the details of not one but four new offerings slated to compete for the Mumbai foodiersquos wallet and interest Le Pain Quotidien is alleged to be opening its second city outlet in Bandra Kurla soon we hear the Leela hotel will try and replicate the resounding success of its Japanese eatery Megu in Delhi and give Wasabi a run for its money then there is a new 4000 square foot PanAsian restaurant slated to open in the Famous Studios location called M One and the cherry on the cake mdash ice cream franchise HaagenDazs is rumoured to be launching a coffee shop at Marine Drive Spoilt for choice we are Which means wersquoll stay home and boil an egg Books We Loathe gtgt One of the most scintillating blogs wersquove recently read is Tom Hawkingrsquos 10 Books That Should Be Challenged Instead of 50 Shades of Grey on FlavorWire in which he argues that instead of removing the suburban erotic bestseller from American libraries on the lsquogrounds of depictions of people enjoying themselves in bedrsquo his list of objectionable tomes ought to be considered Leading his list is that torch bearer of the college jock with intellectual pretensions Ayn Randrsquos Atlas Shrugged charged with lsquotedium longwindedness philosophical unpleasantnessrsquo followed by The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown awful awful prose and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne ghastly selfhelp simplicity In his Obligatory disclaimer Hawking writes ldquoWersquore of course not in the market for banning any books but wersquod much prefer to find the kiddies reading 50 Shades of Grey than any of this lotrdquo We agree u00a0