From the Birla siblings with love

Its being spoken about as one of the sweetest gestures by a blue chip industrialist This week some of the countrys top families received a CD containing a beautiful rendering of the Hanuman Chalisa sung by no less than Kumar Mangalam Birla Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group and his sister Vasavadatta who is married to Kushagra Bajaj another scion of a leading business houseKumar Mangalam BirlaWhats more in addition to the musical competence displayed by the duo what has charmed the recipients of this unique offering is the simple and heart warming note that accompanies the gift which speaks of the siblings gratitude and love for their parents and their grandparents who they say inculcated the love of music and the arts in them ldquoAs far as Diwali gifts go this one has outshone anything else for its originality and graciousnessrdquo said one of its recipients ldquoAnd who could imagine that one of Indias most renowned business magnates could sing this wellrdquoGarry Sobers comes to townWe were delighted to receive an invitation for later this month to meet the legendary all rounder and one of crickets most respected statesmen Sir Garry Sobers The dinner to be held at the Taj is to discuss and celebrate genius and few have epitomized the word like the elegant West Indian who went onto break every cricketing record in historySir Garry SobersWe have a piquant and tangential story to tell concerning Sobers he might have been our relative given that many moons ago he had been engaged to our cousin the TV actress Anju Mahendroo Their engagement back in the Sixties had created headlines and certainly had given us schoolgoing kids much to crow aboutAlas the coupling was not to be And Mahendroo went on to date a struggling young actor called Rajesh Jatin Khanna But thats another story for another dayDigital mavericks at itA couple of months ago Alok Robinhoood Kejriwal one of the early age digital entrepreneurs who started successful businesses like Games2win and Contest2win got into a little virtual tussle with the now infamous exCEO of Housingcom Rahul YadavRahul Yadav and Alok Kejriwal The story goes that Kejriwal who had noticed two Housingcom advertorial billboards outside his residence that were barely 10 feet away from each other had questioned on social media platform the logic behind the decision by the hotshot property startup housingcomBut not only did the Housing team not take his query seriously the serial entrepreneur noticed that his Wikipedia page had been vandalized with a belittling tone Also known as dumb Kejriwal not to be confused with the leader of a famous political party read one such lineIf that was not all he then received a message from the former maverick CEO Rahul Yadav saying hey bacchas are having fun Please dont mind When Alok protested and even threatened criminal action the Wikipedia entry was corrected and further abuse ceased and he received a long condescending apology from the culprit a Housingcom employeeThough the matter was put to rest at that time the adage that revenge however virtual it may be is a dish best enjoyed cold certainly applies After recent reports that Housingcom is letting go of 200 employees Kejriwal didnt miss a moment before sharing the article on Twitter with the caption ldquoI dont think that the bacchas are having funrdquo The last laugh was certainly hisRohit Bals Candy Crush SagaWe were puzzled and bemused to receive a request on Facebook to play Candy Crush Saga from none other than the uber cool enfant terrible of the fashion world Rohit BalRohit BalBelieving it to be the purview of bored housewives we asked Bal if he had really sent us such a request and more intriguingly did the emperor of high fashion really play the twee game Bal responded with alacrityldquoNo my nephew plays it on my iPadrdquo he said explaining the request sent to us but taking care to add ldquoI used to play it Love itrdquo The mind bogglesJazzing up WednesdaysldquoI loved performing at Olive last night Few people appreciate jazz and fewer still when its Acid and Punk and Pop versions and last night besides AD Singhs love of Jazz in all its forms the audiences appreciation was just superlativerdquo said Manasi Scott who sang up a storm on Wednesday night at Olives weekly Jazz night restaurateur Singhs latest offering for city hipstersManasi Scott performs at OliveWith Olives famous interiors converted in to a live music proscenium with enough room for a stage a singer and band and some impromptu audience dancing the heady atmosphere evoked Singhs early days when he used to host the very successful music and desserts phenomena Just Desserts to much appreciationScott whose talent and sparkle more than mesmerized the crowd with jazz standards like Fever Summertime the mashed up Fantasia and Sam Cooke version Fly Me To The Moon and All That Jazz along with some surprises like Led Zeppelins Whole Lotta Love mdash and many audience pleasers from Adele to Lady Gaga is easily one of the countrys most accomplished live artistes and had the crowd begging for moreAnd with great pizzas salads and the presence of some of Bandras outstanding denizens like Abhishek Kapoor Ashish Raheja and Nethra Raghuraman dropping in it was the nicest place to be for a mid week picking me upperldquoWhen you get this kind of love and respect from a crowd listening to you then it just goes on to become as magical as last night was Im looking forward to many more nights in musical expression at Oliverdquo said Scott Indeed