The magic of Abu-Sandeep

gtgt Their muse and dear friendu00a0Jaya Bachchan said it best while introducing them to an audience composed of the cityrsquos social aristocracy ldquoIn AbuSandeeprsquos work is contained all the beauty wonder of India They took a girl next door like me and turned her in to ahellip peacockrdquo And the evening at the Tajrsquos Crystal Room on Monday night was rife with the same sentiment when two of Indiarsquos most accomplished designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla presented their evening of couture ldquoThe golden peacockrdquo for the Sahachari Foundation As one by one the 30 or so statuesque models displayed their clothes taking us through a specially curated presentation that essayed their clothes through the last three decades there were gasps of awe and sighs of delight Designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla with Jaya Bachchan and Asha Parekh Wildly applauding or seated with looks of reverence on their faces were the likes of Kokilaben Ambani daughter Nina Kothari Sridevi and Boney Kapoor Harsh and Mala Goenka Bijal Meswani both the Thackeray wives mdash Rashmi and Sharmilla mdash Chanda Kochchar Pinky Reddy Shaina NC Reena and Ashok Wadhwa amongst many others who had assembled in unmistakable show of support for the duo But finally it was the clothes that made the biggest statement whether it was from their Peacock collection featuring the motif in a multitude of embroideries to jewel with its cream and gold canvas to the glamour of Gatsby meets geometry in their Art Deco and Avatar the effect washellip well staggeringu00a0 Much later after the crowd had gone home and the showrsquos A team the designer duo including Jaya choreographer Lubna Adams Devieka Bhojwani who had conducted the eveningrsquos auction to support the St Judersquos India Childcare for victims of paediatric cancer retired to the Thai Pavillon for some nosh and unwinding there was only one topic of conversation the clothes each a jewel in its own right ldquoThe boys have no idea how talented they really arerdquo said one diner ldquoAh but thatrsquos the best thing about themrdquo we responded Models display creations from the Golden Peacock collection Putting cricket first gtgt When we spoke to Vijay Patil chairman of the DY Patil Sports Academy and VP of the MCA about lsquoCricket Firstrsquo the team he has assembled to fight the forthcoming biennial elections of the Mumbai Cricket Association later this month we were pleasantly surprised to hear someone bat for the game alone ldquoWe have all got so much pleasure so much fame so much success from the gamerdquo said the urbane young educationist ldquoNow I want to give something back Each member of the lsquoCricket First Teamrsquo has been chosen for his or her individual talents mdash much like a cricket teamrdquo he added Patil who is an engineer by training and a management graduate from Australia spends most of his time running his familyrsquos various educational initiatives Vijay Patil with his MCA election team PicAtul Kamble Hence his interest in sports in general and cricket in particular ldquoEvery great university abroad places equal emphasis on the development of academic interest and sports excellencerdquo he says As for the upcoming elections Patilrsquos pretty gung ho included in his team are former cricketers Lalchand Rajput Abey Kuruvilla Atul Ranade along with Mayank Khandwala Unmesh Khanwilkar Vijay Shirke Kaushik Godbole Sangam Lad Iqbal Shaikh Asish Patankar Shekar Shetty Lalji Joshi and the famous MCA Maidan Secretary Nadim Memon known for his deep knowledge of the game who says ldquoMaidans are the heart of cricket they need to be cared for and not allowed to rot Cricket First has put that as one of its top prioritiesrdquo Nice The urban village gtgt ldquoItrsquos been funrdquo says the vivacious Kamal Sidhu about the recently launched Nico Bombay the eponymous restaurant created conceptualised and launched by herself and her husband Nico Goghawala The couple that used to run a boutique hotel and club on a beach in Sri Lanka has introduced the concept of artisanal farming in Mumbai ldquoWe used to buy all our produce locally in Sri Lankardquo says the former model and VJ ldquoFresh fish and vegetables directly from the source cutting out the middlemenrdquo Kamal Sidhu The concept obviously has many takers going by the fact that the restaurant has been sold out ever since its opening But for all its success Kamal sounds pensive ldquoWe thought Mumbai would be easierrdquo she sighs ldquoAfter all our earlier venture was in a villagerdquo Ah but Mumbai is a village too Just a very much bigger one Salaam Mumbaiu00a0A public interest message You call people directly on their mobile only in the case of clear and present danger and if itrsquos an urgent lifethreatening situation Otherwise you SMS them first and do them the courtesy of asking when is it a good time to call Because they may be driving or sleeping or showering or nursing a friend in hospital or in an important meeting or writing or painting or meditating or having a root canal or a hundred other activities that your call would seriously jeopardise Remember your call coming as it does without warning and breaking through their private moment is an intrusion unless they are your closest loved ones or your dearest life partner or your most cherished soul mate Sometimes even then Mostly even thenu00a0 And its no use asking ndash is this a good time to call once you have You ought to have done that before you called and broken their private moment By SMS Thatrsquos what itrsquos there for Thatrsquos what I do Even with my closest loved ones my most cherished friends Always Unless itrsquos in the clauses listed in the first paragraph This is a public interest appeal Mobiles are a wonderful new invention Use yours thoughtfully Please from now on let your fingers do the talkingu00a0