When hearts meet minds

We met the softspoken and very suave former Maharajah of Jodhpur Gaj Singh or Bapji as friends call him at a dinner hosted for him by Nita and Mukesh Ambani at their home on Tuesday night It was to spread awareness about the upcoming One World Retreat weekend that he is organising for his India Head Injury Foundation in March Around 50 couples had been invited to hear the erstwhile Maharajah speak about the work his foundation has been doing ldquoIndia is the head injury capital of the world Over 100000 lives are lost every yearrdquo he said adding ldquoOne out of every six brain accident victims die in India in the US itrsquos one out of 200rdquo Mercifully his son Shivraj Singh who sustained a serious head injury while playing polo has made steady recovery Maharajah of Jodhpur Gaj Singh ldquoHe is now married He has a wife and a lovely daughterrdquo said the Maharajah ldquoWe were lucky to have access to medical aid and doctors but how many others in India can My foundation is working to spread awareness and support for those who donrsquot have access to the support we didrdquo The highlight of the evening was a film about the IHIF which ended with a spirited appeal for the One Word Retreat by rocker Sting ldquoGreat things happen when the heart meets the mindrdquo he said We like Criticrsquos Oscar picks Itrsquos always good to meet Anupama Chopra whose The Front Row on Friday nights we try not to miss This time we picked her brains about her Oscar picks ldquoI loved Lincolnrdquo she said ldquoAnd itrsquos probably going to get the best actor award for Daniel DayLewis Anupama Chopra But the juryrsquos still out for the best picture award Argo seems to have come in from nowhere and picked up notice at the critical preOscar awards I liked Zero Dark Thirty toordquo said the movie buff whose also authored books like Sholay The Making of a Classic King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema and First Day First Show Writings from the Bollywood Trenches Daniel Day Lewis Incidentally we both admitted that we were underwhelmed by Les Miserables ldquoTwoandahalf hours of singingrdquo she said crinkling up her pretty nose ldquoI went home and said to my family please no one sing today No singing allowedrdquo Mr Right And of course sometimes we get it wrong Very wrong Yesterday while reporting on one of the nicest pieces of news that we had heard in these recent bleak times we inadvertently wrote that poet Jane Bhandari had married a lsquoKapilrsquo Puri Kamlesh Puri with Jane Bhandari We can only imagine the consternation in the BhandariPuri household that morning ldquoWe have been getting calls all dayrdquo said Jane ldquoHis name is Kamlesh Puri Lt Col KK Puri in factrdquo Lt Col Puri in fact is the dashing son of veteran actor Madan Puri who he is writing a book about Apologies all round And congratulations to the married couple once again Fellowship of thespians And this from our fellow MiD DAY columnist and friend theatre director adman extraordinaire and aspiring guitarist Rahul DaCunha ldquoTwenty years ago Shernaz Patel Rajit Kapur and I started our theatre company Rage Rajit Kapur Shernaz Patel and Rahul DaCunha What followed was Love Letters Irsquom Not Bajirao Jesus Christ Superstar Flowers Class of 84 Chaos Theory and One on One etc Twentyfive plays in 20 years Plus our beloved Writers Bloc Thank you Sherns and Rajoo Thank you all the amazing performers wersquove worked with Thank you all the magicians who created quietly behind the scenes Happy 20th birthdayrdquo Jackie writes in Itrsquos not every day that we get fan mail from a Bollywood star Yes a couple of them have complimented us and mentioned that we are read daily but a letter And that too from the one and only Jackie Shroff About bees ldquoGood morning Jackie Shroff Such a nice piece on Josephine Selvaraj on the subject of farming beesrdquo wrote the superstar about an item we had carried about the winner of the IMC ladies wing Jankidevi Award 2013 ldquoWe are working on an indigenous seed bank and bee farming near Mahabaleshwar and would love inputs from Selvarajrdquo he wrote ldquoMaybe on Mahashivratri in March when we are organising a Kathak program at a function to honour ladies who have contributed to society and environment We would love you to be there will keep you posted Regards to the family Jackierdquo Hersquos always had the reputation of being one of the nicest people in Bollywood but to take time off to pen a note hellip Now all thatrsquos left is to ask him what on earth hersquos doing with the helliper birds and bees Weaving magic She is one half of what are easily the most stylish couples in town Gracious hostess gentle raconteur and a weaver of peerless repute in circles that matter And now Monica wife of celebrated architect Charles Correa will be presenting her exquisite weaves at an exhibition at the Chemould Prescott Road on January 24 2013 to February 23 this year Monica Correa Called Meandering Warp variations on a theme the artist has broken new technical ground by further developing her concept of removing the reed in her weaves so that the warp threads can meander freely ensuring an element of serendipity and happenstance in to the art Introduced to weaving in 1962 by the noted American weaver Marianne Strengell of the Cranbrook Academy Michigan Monica continued her training at the Weaverrsquos Service Centre in Bombay and enjoys a formidable reputation amongst international and national aficionados of her art Her works are displayed at the constitutional court of South Africa in Johannesburg and the Four Seasons restaurant in Mies van der Rohersquos Seagram building in New York