Guess who's coming to lunch?

gtgt Whereas the official meetings of Spainrsquos King Juan Carlos who arrived last night in Mumbai are well known Governor K Sankaranarayanan and CM Prithviraj Chavan amongst others this diarist has got hold of a list of the captains of industry who have a date with the European monarch and we are happy to see that itrsquos quite an eclectic group which includes business leaders include Shashi Ruia Ashok Hinduja Analjit Singh K Ramchand Naresh Goyal Nikhil Meswani Rahul Bajaj Arvind Thakur Madhukar Kotwal Atul Punj Rahul Puri Rakesh Bakshi Ishaat Hussain and Dr Rajiv Lall King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofia of Spain These gentlemen will be lunching with at the Taj where they will be treated to some of Hemant Oberoirsquos finest Ashok Hinduja and Naresh Goyal Opening for Santana gtgt We dropped into the Blue Frog on Tuesday night where Indus Creed front man Uday Benegalrsquos acoustic trio Whirling Kalapas was playing Though super special guest Ranjit Barot slated to play on drums and vocals did not show the evening was rewarding enough with the gentle sounds of Benegalrsquos harmonies Mahesh Tinaikarrsquos super rendition of April come she will and the bandrsquos great version of Norwegian Wood that got the crowd humming along Carlos Santana As for Indus Creed opening for Santana this Friday Benegal was suitably chuffed ldquoItrsquos a tremendous honour to open for Santanardquo he told us ldquoEspecially since Irsquove grown up listening to himrdquo How so ldquoWhen I was eight or nineyearsold my father who was really a classical music buff had in his collection some odd rock albums and one of those was that famous Santana one with the lionrsquos head cover in black and white which I listened to over and over again Then when I heard him at Woodstock doing Soul Sacrifice I was completely bowled over I recall being able to sing along with the lyrical drum solordquo laughed Benegal Uday Benegal So whatrsquos Indus Creed going to perform at their onehour gig ldquoI guess wersquoll do stuff from our new album Evolve but also lots of our old classics which Bangalore audiences are familiar withrdquo he said As for his favourite Santana song Benegal says itrsquos hard to choose ldquoBut Irsquom definitely one of his old school fansrdquo he admitted ldquoStuff like Supernatural and after I havenrsquot really followedrdquo A Starbucks near you gtgt Whereas the Indian reception to Starbucks has taken even the most ardent fans of the coffee chain by surprise for its promoters the queues outside the newly opened store at the Elphinstone building at Horniman square is only par for the course After all six years of research have gone in to its entry and obviously the data collected has indicated that unlike its international laid back image of yuppie schlep and traveller watering hole in India the storersquos patrons would be far more discerning about the ambience they drank their favourite beverage in Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Hence Howard Schultzrsquos statement about his latest outpost ldquoIt is perhaps the most elegant beautiful dynamic store we39ve opened in our historyrdquo Elegance beauty and flagship quarters appear to have dictated the companyrsquos plans to open another store at the Oberoi at Nariman Point But what does one say to a Taj watcher who swears that the construction work being undertaken currently at the Zegna store situated at the Tajrsquos eastern region is going to be the international coffee chainrsquos Mumbai outpost ldquoThink about it with its own entry point and excellent location wouldnrsquot that be the obvious place to house a Starbucks in Colabardquo said an observer Letrsquos wait and watch Ravan and the soap queen gtgt Shersquos always been something of an enigma and prided herself on her political incorrectness Which is why Ekta Kapoorrsquos posts on Ravan yesterday took no one by surprise Ekta Kapoor Under the handle EkmainaurEktu7 the queen of soap had quite a mouthful to say on the mythological villain mdash most of it in syntax and grammar that had not seen a spellcheck in years ldquoToday I celebrate the life n not d death of RAVAN d all consuming urge of passion of human desire d madness n gut to challenge d GODS the knowledge n d follies of d grEatest villain Who created his own waterloo n like a moth to a flame marched to his own distructionrdquo she said adding ldquoEven today RAVAN remains d most intelligent n knowledgeable characters in mythology His biggest legacy besides d example he made of his life n death is his book LAL KITAAB tat even today has d best remedies to any astrological problems He was a SHIV BHAKT N had earnd immortality but for human weakness arrogance n desiretat catch up wid even d smartest Some say RAVAN wanted death at d hands of d GODS n orchestrated it all Some say he knw his end but was blinded by desire pride n revengerdquo What brought on this diatribe The lady who is famously shy of interviews was unavailable for comment Old hands new haunts gtgt Nice to see old Oberoi hand the dapper Rajeev Kaul who now heads the rival Leela grouprsquos operations in Mumbai at his old domain of work the Trident on Wednesday The dapper gent had dropped in to the BBCrsquos Good Homes event Rajiv Kaul and right Farhat Jamal Speaking of which fans and friends of old Taj hand Farhat Jamal are looking eagerly forward to his soon to be launched Shangrila hotel in Mumbaiu00a0