Social mountaineering in London

lsquoBillionairess who splashed out pound500000 for Prince Charlesrsquo 65th birthday party faces pound350million fraud probersquo said the Daily Mail last week in an extensive article with the slug lsquoCourt in Isle of Man is due to hear casersquo on Mumbai girl the attractive Priya HiranandaniVandrevala daughter of our friend Nirmal Hiranandani whose spending habits appear to have created a stir in Londonrsquos upper echelonsPrince Charles with CamillaDescribed as a lsquosocialite friend of Prince Charlesrsquo Priya and her husband investment banker Cyrus Vandrevala had flexed such serious financial muscle that it had got the British middle market tabloid all frothed upldquoShe and her husband have also paid a record pound7000 for a chocolate eggrdquo They lsquohave a pound20 million house in Holland Park West London close to the Beckhamsrsquo mansion sport his and her jetsrsquo said the article and in a vaguely racial sneer quoted a source as saying ldquoEveryone can see Priya HiranandaniVandrevala prancing round London and hanging out with Prince CharlesrdquoIrina with her dad Mikhail GorbhachevAlong with this the paper carried supporting pictures of the Vandrevalas with various members of the international jet set like the royal couple conservationist and avid India lover Mark Shand Mikhail Gorbachevrsquos daughter Irina Gorbachev and the wife of the President of IcelandPriya and Cyrus VandrevalaAbout the allegation of fraud it said ldquoShe launched an investment scheme which boasted that it would make hundreds of millions from two huge complexes of luxury homes offices and shops in the Indian city of Chennai and in Panvel near Mumbai Investors on Londonrsquos Alternative Investment Market were persuaded that Indiarsquos growing economy made the scheme a licence to print money Institutions ploughed pound350 million into the Hirco firm named after its chairman Mr Hiranandani and his daughter the chief executive But according to the legal case against them while they had suggested everyone would get their money back plus generous profits within five to seven years no such money appearedrdquoMark ShandAnd you want to know what we say We say this is probably the first time that Panvel has featured in an article which carries a sentence like lsquogave pound500000 for the princersquos celebrations and sat next to him at the Buckingham Palace partyrsquo and we hope itrsquos not the lastGet well soon CaptainFriends whorsquove recently met the legendary Captain CKP Nair founderchairman of the Leela Group cannot stop talking about his mental agility and zest for life ldquoThe forthcoming elections the latest business news his own plans for expansion and his forthcoming biography are all part of his conversationrdquo they say ldquoBut there is no doubt that he is weakening and that his age and health he turned 92 this February is catching up with himCaptain CPK NairReports say that the Captain who launched his second career as one of the countryrsquos top hoteliers when he was well into his 60s has stopped attending office for a while now and is being attended to at his cottage on the grounds of the Leela Hotel Mumbai by a battery of physiciansldquoHis doting family and friends are around himrdquo says our source ldquoAnd we are all praying for his speedy recoveryrdquoDifficult customerAsk the personnel of the top five star hotels in the city who their most difficult client is and chances are they will come up with the same name the highprofile wife of a wellknown builder this lady known to be a perfectionist is a FampB managerrsquos nightmare ldquoIf shersquos hosting a party at one of our eateries we know itrsquos going to be toughrdquo said one hapless managerSo why put up with it ldquoWell she is one of our best customers because she entertains a lotrdquo he said sheepishly ldquoAnd she does know a lot about entertaining in style So we learn a lot from her toordquo he said When we asked a kitty party friend of the lady in question she corroborated the story ldquoYes itrsquos truerdquo she said ldquoItrsquos embarrassing to go to restaurants with her as therersquos always an issue But then shersquos known for her extravagance When she travels out of town for parties she even takes her own makeup and hair stylists alongrdquoJames ban gaya heroldquoIrsquove been getting a good deal of teasing Facebook messages from friends back home asking if Irsquom going to give up journalism or inquiring precisely what I had to do on the casting couch to get the rolerdquo guffawed the swashbuckling head of FTrsquos Mumbai bureau James CrabtreeJames Crabtree right with Bernard Imhasly on the sets of the movie KickHe was referring to his recent Bollywood outing in which he played an English diplomat in an underproduction Salman Khan movie called Kick The journalist had recounted the experience in the international financial daily with lsquoI was to play British Diplomat 2 and had precisely two lines There was to be neither singing nor dancingrdquoCrabtree though is no stranger to cinema His wife Mary Abdo is niece to the late Micky Moore whorsquod begun life as a child actor and had been second unit director to the first three Indiana Jones movies and her grandfather had been the doctor for one of the big Hollywood studios with a star patient list that included Elvis PresleyHad she been impressed we asked Crabtree ldquoWell I think my driver from the FT was the one who was especially excited when I told him that I had this small rolerdquo he replied