From Dubai with love

From our Dubai source comes this story about the recent visit of top anchors Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai along with Congressman Shashi Tharoor to the desert state to participate in a media seminar hosted by the Indian Institute of Chartered Accounts recentlyOn the evening of the panel a mutual friend suggested that he Barkha and a friend dine at The Atmosphere in the Burj Khalifa which at 123storeys is the worlds highest restaurant said the source Apparently when Barkha and company entered the restaurant they spotted a group of aides to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra FadnavisDevendra Fadnavis and Barkha DuttSeveral hours later well past the kitchenclosing time of 11 pm when the diners walked to the elevator who should walk out but Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis What followed was a cordial conversation between the ace anchor and the young CM literally in the spot where the elevator door meets the platformThe time was almost 2 am Since the restaurants kitchen had been closed for nearly three hours by then surely Fadnavis wasnt expecting dinner or even a snack said the source adding But the bar was open and busy and in the finest Dubai traditions peopled with quite a few blond East European single women habitues of expensive joints like The Atmosphere where reservations are difficult to obtainOf course theres nothing that says that an Indian chief minister cannot visit an expensive bar in Dubai at 2 am Perhaps Fadnavis was checking out how tall buildings are constructed and populated so that Mumbai could surpass the Burj Khalifa said the sourceWe told you soWe hate to say we told you so but now that Lalit Modi is at the centre of things and his connection with Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble is in the news after the agency has allegedly given him a clean chit wed like to recall an item that wed carried last August citing the IPL founder architects close friendship with one of the worlds leading security headsRonald K Noble with Shah Rukh KhanOnly a few weeks ago that we had written of Modis blandishment of Interpols trendy Turn Back Crime wristband Found on the wrists of various showbiz celebs and high rollers its no surprise that Modis famous IPL colleague has been named brand ambassador of Interpols worldwide campaign against organised crime wed said along with this pic of SRK with NobleAnd on the subject of Modi we had in fact carried another equally interesting item last October Modi is said to have formed a consultancy firm called Last Call which offers expertise to those who might experience similar hardships wed written After all the knowledge hes acquired and the contacts hes made with top international lawyers security agencies and authorities is unbeatable said a sourceSounds good but at the rumoured 25 million per contract only heads of state top bizmen and the likes will be able to afford the services of Last Call wed said To which wed like to add at the rate the London based bon vivant is trumping his opposition mdash rates for Last Calls services might get even higherExpert time managementNice to catch up with Shalini Piramal who has taken over as president of the IMCs Ladies Wing along with her husband Dilip VIP Piramals ascension as president of the IMC for the coming yearShalini Piramal and Gauri KhanI plan to focus on social responsibility and work in areas like malnutrition skill development and the rehabilitation of children of sex workers she said before telling us of a forthcoming seminar she is planning to hold in August on women and time managementWe hope to invite Shobhaa De Gauri Khan and Amruta Fadnavis as speakers she said naming three women who undoubtedly are authorities on the subject Way to goThe chef the photographer the visual artist and the painterCould there be anything that epitomises hipster urban cool than this selfie featuring a chef two shutter bugs and an artist It was a selfie laughed Samar Jodha the peripatetic photographer when we caught him between Venice and Dubai last eveningRahul Akerkar Sheena Sippy Samar Jodha and Bharti KherSheena Sippy took it on the occasion of the opening of the Indigo in Delhi The others in the picture are Rahul Akerkar and Bharti Kher he said And if you look behind us you can see part of the two copper and brass metal works acquired by the restarting that was part of my show Outpost at the last Venice Biennale he addedSheena was getting us all in the frame plus the brass work on the wall in our selfie attempt said Jodha whose next project is in Afghanistan conducting photo workshops with children in conflict regionsWhen we were youngThey are known as the yin and yang of TV news anchoring The trenchant inyourface Arnab Goswami and the laidback and considered Rajdeep Sardesai And not only do their styles differ so widely but right now the battle for TRPs is also at its peak between Times Now and India Today the channels that the anchors headRajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami at NDTVWhich is why when we chanced upon this archival picture of the two men taken many years ago when they were not rivals but colleagues at NDTV that great incubator of TV news talent we found it delightfulRajdeep SardesaiHere you see them as two young men at an office meet with lots of bonhomie and with stars in their eyes Who would have thought that the two would not only leave NDTV a few years later but also go on to make TV news historyArnab Goswami