Shukla's plan

gtgt A little bird tells us that it took the combined and considerable persuasive forces of Rajiv Shuklarsquos charm to propel Sachin into Parliament ldquoSachin was not that keen and even the party had to be lsquopreparedrsquo and who better than Shukla with his political and cricket links to prepare the ground on both sidesrdquo our source told us Incidentally the same source was present at the Raj Bhavan at a function hosted by the Governor to felicitate the winning cricket team at last yearrsquos World Cup when Shukla introduced a reluctant and shy Sachin to CM Prithviraj Chavan ldquoRajiv wanted to bring up the topic of extra FSI for his gym with the CM but Sachin was not keenrdquo Letrsquos see how the shy legend fields all the interest and influences that come his way in his new avatar The Tigerrsquosu00a0grand cub gtgt We spoke to Aditya Thackeray on the eve of his exams and felt quite guilty taking him away from his studies ldquoThatrsquos coolrdquo said the tigerrsquos grand cub ldquoIrsquom pretty chilled out in fact amongst my friends Irsquom usually the one whose singing while writing my papers I even saw a movie recentlyrdquo he laughed But therersquos a more serious side to the young man ldquoYesterday I was in rural Thane where I took water tankers to alleviate the acute suffering of the drought hitrdquo he told this diarist ldquoYou should have seen the emotions of people when the water was releasedrdquo Thackeray is also actively involved in improving and beautifying the city ldquoI respond to emails and Twitter messages sent to me and then I contact the concerned ward officerrdquo he said ldquoIrsquom also going to be writing to various city artists to come together and adopt traffic gardensrdquo he said And how does he plan to celebrate on the last day of his exams we asked the 21yearold law student ldquoBy seeing a movierdquo he responded ldquoPerhaps the Avengersrdquo Incidentally Thackerayrsquos favourite superhero is Batman who also had a penchant for bringing relief to his metropolis if we recall correctly A marriage made in heaven gtgt It is undoubtedly one of the most powerful alliances to be forged between two of Indiarsquos most powerful and wealthy families and its impact on various aspects of business political and social life has been the topic of the smart set in Mumbai and Delhi On the face of it itrsquos boy meets girl boy proposes to girl girl accepts boy But when boy happens to be the son of one of the most powerful newspaper owners in the country and the grandson of one of the oldest business houses and the girl belongs to the countryrsquos wealthiest and most influential familyrsquos the combined aggregate of their power is staggering Germane to this is the fact that the boy mdash one of the countryrsquos most eligible bachelors and uncommonly handsome mdash has rejected proposals from some other equally powerful families in India and abroad And that the girl who this diarist has met is not only beautiful and brilliant but is one of the most sensible and grounded heiresses of her generation As we say at the core of it is a simple love story but in India these things are a bit more complex Expect a big fat wedding at the very least The Russians are coming gtgt Which reclusive biz tycoon has been read the riot act by his family because of his involvement with a 20something Russian beauty and has been holed up at a midtown fivestar hotel with his lady love for the last nine months No prizes for guessing who but the hotel staff are quite chatty about his comings and goings Etonians in Mumbai gtgt One more reason this diarist canrsquot help loving Mumbai is for the various communities interest groups and cults it accommodates Dalit Panthers Seventh Day Adventists Hare Krishna Bhakts mdash bring lsquoem on we say Premier amongst these interest groups are the Old Etonians alumni from one of the worldrsquos most premier and elite British schools Known as an institution on whose playing fields future rulers of England were nurtured Eton has a long list of distinguished pupils with Britainrsquos David Cameron being the 19th British Prime Minister to have attended the school Roddy Sale the Mumbaibased foppish financial wiz and unabashed Indophile himself the alumnus has been indefatigable in his efforts to strengthen Etonrsquos links with India ldquoThe Eton Dinner was held regularly as far back as in the late 19th century in Kolkata and Simlardquosaid Sale who often needs a motorised crane to shift his gaze to a more recent calendar ldquoBut the practice had fallen into neglect by the 1960s So when I came to India I persuaded the Maharajah of Jodhpur mdashan old boy to host a dinner and since then wersquove held 15 one each yearrdquo The school which some of the most worldrsquos glamorous fictional characters like James Bond and Bertie Wooster and Psmith are supposed to have attended counts amongst its alumni some pillars of Mumbai society mdash albeit mostly from the financial community Parthiv Kilachand Pashupathy Advani and the Patel brothers Sanjay and Sunil the former who made headlines when he became the first Indian head boy of Eton And where will the boys meet for their next alumni dinner ldquoIn Madhya Pradesh with Richard Holkar of Indorerdquo says Roddy We should have guessedu00a0