Three Wise Men

We follow his annual visits to Mumbai the city of his passion with interest as his unbounded enthusiasm for all things Mumbai never fails to unearth gems of nostalgiaAnd so when LAbased actor Keith Stevenson on his yearly visit dropped in to record the opening announcements for Bharat Dabholkarrsquos newest version of Bottoms Up ldquoan upcoming brandnew polished up uniquely identical interpretation of the first show of BUrdquo in which he had acted in the mid1980s it was a barrel of laughs wersquore toldFrom left Bharat Dabholkar Louiz Banks and Keith StevensonldquoSitting with Bharat and that musician extraordinaire Louiz Banks at his studio in Santacruz was a real nostalgia triprdquo gushed Stevenson afterwards adding ldquoI listened to tracks that I had recorded then and was transported back in timerdquoAs for the picture of the three swarthy gents each an icon of stage and showbiz given the onset of the Christmas season it could well be captioned the three wise men ho ho hoLook what Times Litfest startedYou know when somethingrsquos caught the public imagination not only when it goes viral but also when it presents itself as humour in this case darkGautam Benegal andTarun TejpallsquoTarun Tejpal to inaugurate my book launch at Landmark bookstores Andheri West on December 9 6 pmrsquo wrote author artist Gautam Benegal about the launch of his book lsquoThe Green of Bengalrsquo And after eliciting the expected attention he followed it up with a strategically placed lsquoNo not really Just using TOI Litfest strategy to create publicityrsquoHis tongueincheek humour notwithstanding the book excerpts of which wersquove read is a lyrical and elegant paean to Bengal and a fine sequel to lsquo17 Bondel Road and other storiesrsquo We particularly liked the title story which recalls an early Amit Chaudhuri So herersquos to the book launch with or without youknowwhoPalace CoupOur Delhi jasoos informs that therersquos likely to be some sort of Palace coup within the Congress high command It seems three heavyweights who have so far been very close to the powers that be are planning to join forces and try and wrest power away from the first familySiddharth MallyaWhat makes this report startling is that two out of the three have been so far appeared as staunch loyalists one defending his leaders at every juncture until his personal issues caught up with him the other serving as the silent power behind the throneAs for the third given how shabbily shersquos been treated by the high command even though shersquos won the party many accolades her betrayal was only to be expected and according to many completely justifiedldquoAt a recent event it was obvious how she was being snubbed by the leaderrdquo says the source Oh dear Palace intrigue at its worstGift of the gabSid Mallya VJMrsquos handsome son is back with a bang The Hollywood aspirant who underwent a drastic weightloss transformation and was a regular on the social circuit a few years ago attending IPL matches mostly in the company of Bollywood bombshells has been living in LA trying to make it as a Hollywood actor he had once famously said Bollywood would be lsquotoo easyrsquoMedha Gujral JalotaTowards this end we hear the heir to the Kingfisher fortunes is living a far less luxurious life in Beverly Hills where he spends his time going for movie auditions and taking acting classesBut even while he awaits the right break Mallya has launched a new show lsquoSid Sessionsrsquo on YouTube in which he responds to questions from social media about his life and loves and in which he demonstrates that he has acres of cool and quite the gift of the gabAs everyone knows celebrities are subjected to unending verbal abuse and riling from the junta on forums such as Twitter mostly by people emboldened by the mediumrsquos anonymity To Sidrsquos credit he is able to take it all in his stride laugh it off and whatrsquos best of all has turned it into a business ventureThe latest episode has him responding to a barrage of questions from his lsquofansrsquo on his sexual orientation which he handles with an admirable insouciance and sophistication And we particularly like his signoff which drives home his devilmaycare attitude ldquoPeace out Bsrdquo he hissesNiceSocial media poignancyThe impact of social media on our lives has hardly received the attention and concern it deservesConsider this adding to the tragedy surrounding the death of the beautiful and brave Medha Gujral Jalota wife of ghazal singer Anup after her second heart and first kidney transplant on Tuesday in America was the fact that her loving sister Eeda Gujral Chopra had posted an exuberant message of hope and encouragement for her sisterrsquos recovery before shersquod boarded her flight in Delhi to meet herImagine the poignancy and dread for all those who read the message during the long hours of the transatlantic flight and knew that Medha had passed on even as her sister was winging her way with such hope in heart Sometimes life can be unbearably sad and undoubtedly this was one of them