When AB blushed

u00a0gtgt You can tell true star status when it recoils from unctuous flattery Seated on Amitabh Bachchanrsquos right at the Society Young Achieverrsquos Award we saw him blush and shift uncomfortably in his chair a couple of times when the adulation got a bit out of hand What an extraordinary life he leads his presence a lightening rod for awe and reverence And itrsquos been this way for four decades We watched as every awardwinner presenter and even theother two recipients of the Society Super Achievers Honors Leander Paes and Sonu Niigaam bent low to touch his feet and spoke about the inspiration his presence afforded them And through it all the basically shy but extraordinary star blushed in embarrassment Amitabh Bachchan with Nari Hira The Nari Hira legend gtgt Saturday night saw some of the countryrsquos most celebrated achievers gather under one roof to celebrate another year of the Society Young Achievers Awards Held at the appropriately festooned Jewel of India in Worli the evening saw the likes of Siddharth Roy Kapur for business Imran Khan for film Saiyami Kher for glamour and Ramesh Joshi for Social Service receiving awards and accolades from a host of super achievers like Shobhaa De resplendent as always in golden yellow Harsh Goenka Anil Dharker and Atul Kasbekar amongst others It was a redletter day as the audience itself composed of some of societyrsquos most celebrated movers and shakers heard the likes of Leander Paes Amitabh Bachchan and Sonu Niigaam speak about the enormous responsibility of hard work and excellence Shobhaa De at the event Siddharth Roy Kapur But ultimately the evening belonged to its host the legendary and much loved Mr Nari Hira no one refers to him without the title the dynamic founder publisher of Magna Publishing who over the last four decades has more or less defined how the Indian public lives loves and gets its lifestyle information Through his bouquet of mega magazines Stardust Society whose graceful and soft spoken editor Suchitra Iyer had worked tirelessly to make the evening a success and Interiors Hira has effortlessly dominated the environment But more than that he commands enormous affection and respect Every achiever present was there personally for one man alone Nari Hira Diamonds indeed are forever Imran Khan Sonu Niigaam My mom bestest gtgt Boys will be boys Even when they are putative leaders of tomorrow Aaditya Thakeray while accepting his Society Young Achievers Award for 2013 alluded to the presence of his evergraceful mother the beautiful Rashmi Thackeray saying it was always tough making a speech in front of onersquos parents And then on being handed his trophy and bouquet the first thing he did was to give them dutifully to his proud mum Incidentally when bestselling author Amish Tripathi went up to receive his award an excited Thackeray who writes poetry whispered to us ldquoHersquos my favourite author Irsquove read all his booksrdquo Nice to know a young politician takes time off to read Whatrsquos more from a lsquoTripathirsquo a lsquoMistryrsquo is only a few shelves away on a library bookshelf Overheard ldquoShersquos not naiumlve so she must have known that gatecrashing the Cannes wedding with her new BF would have offended the groomrsquos mom who is related to her former beaursquos wife the one whose marriage she broke uprdquo mdash A shocked socialite about a rather complicated recent incident on the French Riviera IronyDeficiency gtgt The last time we had a conversation with him he was spewing expletives about the latest national problem that had caught his attention The irony of tilting swords at windmills at a ritzy SoBo brunch fuelled by white wine did not occur to him ldquoPerhaps you ought to save some of this energy for tomorrow when you can actually do something about the issuerdquo wersquod said to him gently But after his speech last night while presenting the Society Young Achieverrsquos award to the lovely Masaba Gupta in the fashion category when Narendra Kumar Ahmed said the award ought to be given to him instead we realised he suffered from a serious ironyndashdeficiency And of course there was that expected spiel about being lsquopassionate about fashionrsquo Narendra Kumar Ahmed Salaam Mumbai Transcontinental scandal Call us incorrigibly naiumlve but we never cease to be amazed by the shenanigans of high societyu00a0Every new account of the diabolical nature of its denizens has us gobsmacked God knows we do not place ourselves on the moral high ground over their antics What has us reeling in fact is the damage that people inflict on themselves and their socalled loved ones with no thought of their own psyches The latest scandal to reach our ears is about the overachieving capitalhopping socialite from NYC with a penchant for philanthropy who has been reportedly informed by her wealthy investment banker husband that he would like a divorce That he has been spending his time increasingly in Hong Kong has triggered speculation about new romantic interestsu00a0Friends of the beleaguered lady have rallied around her to offer support ldquoBeneath all that ambition is a good person she deserves betterrdquo they say adding ldquoBut given the couplersquos complicated residential status things can get murkyrdquou00a0We hope good sense prevails Robert is in the house gtgt He may be under a cloud as far as some of his business dealings are concerned given the family hersquos married into but that does not stop the chatterati from affording Robert Vadra star status as far as they are concerned Robert Vadra and Simi Chandoke At the Wills Lifestyle Delhi fashion week seated in the front row at his friend Ashish Sonirsquos show looking tanned and buffed was the countryrsquos most famous soninlaw fresh from a NYC trip ldquoAll flashbulbs were on Robertrdquo said our friend and former colleague Simi Chandoke seated besides him who was covering the show for Zoom ldquoHe is bigger than a Bollywood star in Delhirdquo she said adding ldquoDiorrsquos Kalyani Chawla was on his right The event happened to be the finale of the Fashion week and featured Anil Kapoor as the showstopper Vadra stayed back for the after party toordquou00a0