Fifty years and still counting!

>> Guess what's so special about Cathedral's class of 62? Well, it's celebrating its 50-year reunion as only a bunch of the city's most elite alumni would: in Goa with much warmth, laughter and feni.

"It has been a blast. Seeing friends I have not met in 50 years," says LA-based actor Keith Stevenson, a class of ‘62 alumni. "It is like being reborn again," he exults.

"The class of 62 have been behaving as juvenile as we were in the 60s! Obviously a great time has and is being had. Tonight the farewell dinner and then getting ready for the 100 years celebrations in 2062.u00a0

Keith Stevenson

Please keep the day free!" Other well-known alumni who are celebrating along with Keith are Ali Merchant, Naval Pandole and the Talyarkhan brothers Fadli and Darab.

Salman Rushdie

But guess who's missing from the festivities? A certain Mr Salman Rushdie who was a classmate of this bunch and who had evoked them all so vividly in Midnight's Children. (Keith Stevenson was Glandy Keith Colaco) if we recall correctly!) Imagine what the great author could have written about the epochal reunion!

The toast of London
>> He is as exquisite as any of the crown jewels he writes about and far more precious! And now that the former Delhi based antique expert Amin Jaffer, the international director of Asian art at Christie's has moved to London, it comes as no surprise that he has become something of a social pivot as far as the well-heeled NRI community goes.

For the last couple of months we have been hearing the prettier specimens of our London-based circle squeal rapturously about all things Jaffer: his taste, his scarves, his manners, his looks and sometimes even his scholarship. And now for Jaffer fans and groupies, we have the latest update: the elegant Mr Jaffer has chosen to spend his birthday in Bath. We hope his female fan club has afforded him some peace and quiet there at least!

Just desserts
>> A measure of the excitement generated by the upcoming Bhartiya-Kothari mega nuptials (Shobhana and Shyam Bhartiya's son is marrying Nina and Shyam Kothari's daughter) is that friends of the couple were overheard reminding each other that they must desist from gorging on the Diwali mithai as they have to lose a few kilos before the big wedding!u00a0("To offset the many kilos we will be putting on during the celebrations yaar! Because you know there will be a special room full of the world's best desserts," as one insider was overheard saying to the other).

Dhirubhai Ambani and (right) Nina Kothari, the late tycoon's daughter

It is a well known fact that not only are both families involved well known for their hospitality and fine eye for detail especially as far as cuisines go, but this wedding is all the more significant as it will be the first of Dhirubhai and Kokilaben Ambani's grandchildren who will be getting married. (Nina Kothari is the late tycoon's daughter.) Naturally delicious segments of the country's rich and powerful are being mindfully abstemious, faithfully doing their cardio and gearing up for their just desserts!

Is the search over?
>> So, here's an update about society's reigning diva: after a series of unconfirmed rumours linking her with all manner of companions (including her ex!) word comes in that the svelte lady has been seen in the company of a US based IT mogul associated with one of the world's biggest corporations. "He seems younger than her, extremely bright and completely besotted," we were informed. Perhaps the search is over?

Ol' rockers!
>> We disclose our vintage each time we write about our favourite rockers. But you know what, if belonging to the era of Dylan, Cohen, Springsteen and Carol King is the consequence then we are happy to stand up and be counted.

(From left to right) Janis Ian, Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen

Because everybody knows: that's where the best music came from! And so for all ageing rockers, here's a picture to warm the cockles of their Gibsons!

India Magnifique!
>> Suddenly Jodhpur has become the capital of Planet Jet Set! No sooner had we finished hearing about the party that Naomi Campbell had thrown for her billionaire boyfriend's 50 birthday when word comes in about a few more that have put the desert town on the international map for lotus eaters. Through it all we are happy that our friend Roddy Sale's boutique hotel Raas has become the first stop for Jodhpur's party hearty crowd.

Roddy Sale

Launched a couple of years ago by a clutch of well connected India-loving international bankers, we had been guests of the Jodhpur wearing Etonian bachelor Sale's when it first began. Nestled cheek by jowl near the magnificent Mehrangarh fort, Raas is exactly the kind of place that would appeal to someone looking for ‘India magnifique' served by their poolside: billowing white muslin drapes, international cuisine and strapping kohl eyed managers with diamond studs in their ears! Ahh India Magnifique! The last time we encountered it was at a wedding where the groom wore a turban and silk kurta and the bride wore a white wedding gown melted before the ceremonial wedding fire. And, of course, there were elephants! u00a0