Fly by VIP?

gtgt And word comes in of an interesting new concept thatrsquos going to put a new sparkle into flying An enterprise called lsquoFLY WITH VIPrsquo is supposed to have signed agreements with 300 celebrities including Aamir Khan Salman Khan Mahendra Singh Dhoni Virat Kohli Farhan Akhtar Deepika Padukone Shahid Kapoor Sonam Kapoor Narayana Murthy Gururaj Deshpande and Deepak Chopra to agree to allowing the seat next to them on aircrafts to be auctioned and the proceeds will go to charity ldquoWersquove got the launch campaign created by Piyush Pandey at Ogilvy KPMG as our auditors and our website is completely ready All partnerships are in placerdquo says Gautam Chhabriya the man behind this innovative ideaAamir Khan andSachin TendulkarldquoBesides the highest bidder getting to win auctions of the adjacent seat of his favourite celebrity we have a raffle modelrdquo he says adding ldquoAn experiment with Sachin Tendulkar in partnership with Vodafone yielded 330000 people paying Rs 150Which means just one event grossed Rs 5 crores of which we get to keep 1535 and 6585 goes to charityrdquoSaid to be two months away from take off it will be interesting to see if this idea gains ground In our humble opinion we feel most high net worth people hate having to chat with pesky networkers on flights After all we all know how irritating it is when the person next to one uses his or her time airtime to network or make a pitch But if onersquos social mobility can be put to good use why not Deepika PadukoneJust one thing the concept plan also mentions a lsquoMr Godrej Mr Bajaj and Mr Mahindrarsquo as personalities who have signed on to the schemeCouldnrsquot be a certain Adi Rahul and Anand could they Just askingChanging times in Delhigtgt Hailing from a family thatrsquos known as one of the most bluechip in the country this divorced daughter of a Kolkatabased leading industrialist must have responded to her recent mistreatment at the hands of Delhi Customs with particular odiumAfter all being apprehended while passing through the green channel for possession of a few highend watches picked up in Zurich after returning from a holiday at the family home on its outskirts was really no big deal for the ladyNot so thought the authorities and made the billionaire heiress spend the night in overnight custody at the airport until someone made a few high networked calls and rescued her from her ignominyOh dear a portent of changing times in the CapitalMumbairsquos Hamptonsgtgt And ever since the lsquoout through the backdoor police chasersquo on Yash Birlarsquos top executive Anant Vardhan brought the focus on Alibaug beach properties therersquos been a discussion on who has the most beautiful beach front home in Mumbairsquos HamptonsGautam Singhania andVijay MallyaTo be sure there are quite a few contenders High rollers like Vijay Mallya Gautam Singhania Tata Chairman Cyrus Mistry Anand Mahindra and Kavita and Jasjit Singh all have sumptuous getaways in Alibaug so there are many piles to choose fromBut hands down those in the know swear that the most beautiful and appropriate beach home in the vicinity is that of the Dubashs mdash Adi Uma and Liarsquos European architectdesigned Kihim property built almost two decades ago but still relevant and enthralling And now that the matter has been settled shall we turn our attention to the most vulgarugliest beachside propertyFor that the list is longerhellipPolitics in the police dept gtgt We donrsquot really comment on matters of State but when a friend reaches out in anguish we make it a point to respondAfter all it is at such times that our true character is tested So when we received a text message from beleaguered cop Javed Ahmed we could not help but focus our attention on the recent issue involving the appointment of Mumbairsquos police commissioner Now as sure as we are that Ahmed is a fine man we are equally sure that so is Rakesh Maria Mumbairsquos newly appointed police commissioner None who know Maria have any thing but good words to say about him and his commitment to his jobRakesh Maria andJaved AhmedThe problem does not lie with these senior officers of the law We have in the past met and been befriended by many of their ilk and to a man we have found them intelligent focussed and sincere in their dealings with people Of course the most brilliant amongst them is the one and only Julio Ribeiro recipient of Indiarsquos third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan whose qualities of integrity and decency are something of a benchmark in the serviceNo the problem does not lie with the cops when it comes to their appointment to senior posts The problem gentle reader mostly lies in the fact that too many of the countryrsquos vital departments lie in the domain of politicians and their whims lsquoWhat message is being given Hard work integrity competence seniority etc have no valuersquo wrote Ahmed in his impassioned text ldquoOnly a political godfather is what mattersrdquoSee what we meanCard holding membergtgt We ran in to her at AD Singhrsquos Thalassa pop up store recently and thought naught of it when she handed us her visiting card But a few days ago when arranging our affairs yes contrary to popular belief we do sort them out eventually we came across the card againNisha JamwalAnd what a card it is a glamourous fullcolour 3D picture of the social maven shot in art house portrait light on one side and her contact details on the other email ID cell phone and various residential detailsAnd so from someone whorsquos never possessed a card in their lives okay a few professional ones that we never used all we can say is that Nisha Jamwalrsquos card is one that certainly appears like it means business and gives a whole new twist to the phrase card carrying member of Mumbai society