Candles in the wind?

gtgt What is it about famous Bollywood wives heartbreak and candles Yes you heard candles and not scandals Ever since Dimple Kapadia declared her independence from Kaka by launching her candle company lsquoThe Faraway Treersquo it appears to be something of a trend Latest to embrace votive power is pretty singer new age artist Suchitra Krishnamoorthi whose marriage to Shekhar Kapur unravelled a few years ago Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and Anil Kapoor ldquoI have been in love with candlelight ever since I can rememberrdquo says the lady who launched the Candlelight Company her store in Juhu with a wellattended party last week ldquoHooked onto the miraculous healing properties of essential oils and their power to alter moods and emotions and promote wellbeing I headed to the Candle Academy and Molinard Perfumery in France and Plush Folly England to further my skills and knowledgerdquo she says ldquoI believe that a candle is not just an object of beauty and light It is also a tool of divination and wellbeingrdquo See what we mean Rest and recovery gtgt Good news for friends and fans of legendary director Shyam Benegal who has been recovering from surgery at the Jaslok Hospital these past few weeks According to a source he has made satisfactory progress and will be discharged soon ldquoWhile in hospital hersquos been working round the clock on his dream project mdash a dramatized series on the making of the Indian Constitution for Rajya Sabha TV mdash by copious reading and keeping up with the TV newsrdquo we were informed ldquoBut given that much of it contains vileness and venality like Ajit Pawarrsquos urination statement mdash we hope his ulcers donrsquot act up againrdquo said our source RIP lsquoTakeover Kingrsquo gtgt To know what true noblesse oblige meant one had to live in Kolkata in the eighties where legendary Marwari industrialists resided in impossibly large mansions entertained in a style thatrsquos hard to imagine were knowledgeable about a vast range of subjects and immersed themselves in art and culture And of the lot RP Goenka who died on Sunday from age related illnesses was the King Hailing from one of Kolkatarsquos oldest families Goenka quickly established an empire that spanned a variety of businesses lsquofrom power to hotels to musicrsquo winning himself the title of lsquoIndiarsquos original takeover kingrsquo for the swashbuckling manner in which hersquod acquire companies Along with this he acquired a formidable reputation for his fabled art collection and the elegance of his style We had met him on many occasions in Kolkata as well as at his official bungalow in Lutyenrsquos Delhi As though to the manor born his sons Harsh Vardhan and Sanjiv have also inherited their fatherrsquos penchant for the arts He shall be missed Retard Kumar gtgt Visual wit is a rare commodity and even more welcome than its verbal equivalent Which is why when we saw this picture featuring Vishal Dadlani selfstyled as lsquoRetard Kumar 70s superstarrsquo we were delighted ldquoIt was for a series of promos for Indian Idol Kidsrdquo said the composer who along with band mate Shekhar and singer Shreya Goshal will be judges of the popular show ldquoWe were put in various costumes by the producerrdquo laughed the hunky musician ldquobut of course the hamming was all done by me alonerdquo As for the reality show Dadlani is making pretty sure no kids will be harmed in the shooting by way of too much attention or celebrity ldquoBoth Sony and Freemantle share concerns about childrenrsquos rights and treatmentrdquo he said Nice Our neighbour the hypnotherapist gtgt We used to run in to him in the building lift A silver maned handsome man with piercing eyes It was our friend the dashing police chief Sivanandan a frequent visitor to his home who informed us that we lived in the same building as one of the cityrsquos most sought after hypnotherapists But that was not the only reason why Rooshi Kumar Pandya who died suddenly over the weekend was enigmatic He was also the husband of the reclusive Anapoorna Devi acknowledged by those in the know to be one of the most gifted sitar players ever and former wife of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar Though we often saw Pandya we had been putting off seeking an interview for a rainy day Well that day is not to come Pandya was cremated by his friends and admirers and Anapoorna Devi has withdrawn even further in to the recesses of her chosen reclusivity We wish her strength and courage Streets of blood and gold gtgt rsquoThe sky tinged with blood a man sliced in two by incandescent steel the sudden fear when the ambulances went by the black market in grain the debris floating in the bay and for me the image of a headless horse still running still spurting bloodrdquo With these evocative words noted Mumbai writer Jerry Pinto ended his essay in Bombay Meri Jaan edited by Naresh Fernandes and Jerry Pinto Penguin on the Fort Stikine explosion in Bombay harbour on April 14 1944 whose anniversary fell yesterday Jerry Pinto For those who came in late ldquoThe SS Fort Stikine had arrived from Karachi more than 24 hours earlier carrying a highly inflammable cargo of cotton bales resin lubricating oil torpedoes detonators one million pound sterling in gold ingots and 1200 tonnes of Category A explosive the most sensitive kindrdquo wrote Pinto Incidentally Pinto joins an august bunch of writers this week whose books have been shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Book Prize 2013 His Em and the Big Hoom an autobiographical first novel set in Mahim has made the cut along with offerings by Jeet Thayil Narcopolis Nilanjana S Roy The Wildings and Farhad Sorabjee God on every wind amongst a galaxy of excellent writersu00a0