From Pune, with love

Sagar Chordia with Donald Trump

It had to happen. A couple of years ago we had written on this page about Donald Trump's visit to India and his realty projects in Maharashtra and how bizarre it would be if the next President of the USA and the most powerful man in the world is also selling real estate in India.

Well, now that it has come to pass and you can live in a building bearing the name of the American president, the fact that his realty associates have access to the White House is a foregone conclusion. Thus, you have Sagar Chordia, founder and director of Panchshil Realty, and one of the Trump's associates in his Pune venture, holding forth about his engagement with him no sooner than he'd given his acceptance speech.

"I feel great. It is an amazing thing as it was quite a big fight between him and Hillary Clinton," Chordia told Pune365's Vijayta Lalwani yesterday, adding, "I have had a good experience working with him and he is a very hardworking professional." Do the apartments sell at a premium now?

Mothers and sons
Amid certain film families, coming a-cropper with one's first film is almost a badge of honour. Both Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor did not set the box office ablaze with their debut films Biwi Ho To Aisi and Refugee, and though Sawariya tanked, no one doubted Ranbir Kapoor's talent or his future stardom. Which is why Sunita Kapoor's message to her son Harshvardhan, on the occasion of his birthday yesterday, was particularly poignant.

Sunita Kapoor and Harshvardhan

The handsome actor's first film Mirzia may not have received the response it deserved, but it hasn't taken away from him his potential stardom. Kapoor's wise and loving greeting was apt: "I wish you the strength to face challenges with confidence. Along with the wisdom to choose your battles carefully, I wish you adventure on your journey and may you always stop to help someone on the way…listen to your heart and take risks carefully... remember how much you are loved and how proud you make me. Happy birthday, my son," it read. Followed by a happy bunch of shining red hearts. Nice!

Double whammy
The double whammy of Trump's ascension to the White House and the demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, gave rise to all manner of extreme emotions, witticisms and declarations yesterday, from the sublime (David Remnick's scathing essay ‘An American Tragedy') to the ridiculous (‘Canada has just started building a wall' by Ricky Gervais), to the clever (‘This is going to make Brexit look like a ballet lesson...' by William Dalrymple), as people's shock-horror responses settled on social media like confetti.

Meera Gandhi, Masaba Gupta and Kalyani Chawla

To our mind, two of the more memorable comments were from two of India's fashionistas. "The same people who were losing their shit over Trump last night are suddenly going ‘Oh, Trump already sounds better & more president-like'. Buddy, you're sitting miles away, this royal suck-up ain't reaching Trump until Kim K is the next president. If you want to go with the flow, eat a Toblerone wrapped in a Rs 500 note," said the Mumbai-based Masaba Gupta, whereas Delhi-based Kalyani Chawla posted, "The Delhi smog is finally explained... It wasn't crop burning. It was cash burning."

However, one fashionista got it wide off the mark. "Leaving voting poll today NYC!! 9 am," the redoubtable Meera Gandhi had emailed us yesterday, while attaching this picture with the caption: "Looking good for Hillary". Oh dear!

A girl's best friend
So it's not just SRK who believes in keeping birthdays simple and real. The low profile Anoop Mehta, president of Bharat Diamond Bourse, director of Mohit Diamonds and scion of one of the oldest diamond exporting families in the country, celebrated his 60th recently surrounded with his near and dear ones, who just happened to be some of the city's most glamorous ladies.

Anoop Mehta with some of city's most glamorous ladies at his birthday party

These included his stylish wife Devaunshi and friends Tina Ambani, Avanti Birla and the sisters-in-law Rima and Renuka Jain among others, who along with their respective husbands are old friends of the Mehtas. As for this portrait of the birthday boy surrounded by a bevy of beauties, one wit commented, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."

A brotherhood of the grape
Almost a decade ago, three sets of brothers came together with the single ambition to start an Indian wine company, which would produce international quality wines. Delhi-based brothers Kapil and Gaurav Sekhri, Andrea and Alessio Secci from Italy along with Ranjitsinh and Arjunsinh Mohite-Patil from Maharashtra together set up Fratelli (which means brothers in Italian) Wines, basing their vineyard in Solapur, Maharashtra.

Zeba Kohli and Pria Kataria Puri at the launch of MS by Fratelli Vineyards

And Tuesday night saw the brand launch of their latest offering known as M/S, which is a collaboration of two Italian wine masters, Steven Spurrier and Piero Masi. The occasion was meant to be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Club, but guests were informed last minute that due to the overwhelming response, the event was moved to its rooftop bar Aer.

(L-R) Alessio Secci, co-promoter and director, Steven Spurrier, Kapil Sekhri, co-promoter and director, and Piero Masi, chief wine maker, at the launch of MS by Fratelli Vineyards

After a few speeches, the wine is said to have flowed freely and those in attendance included Pria Kataria Puri, Zeba Kohli, Naina Bachchan, Almona Bhatia and Vikram Raizada among others. Dapper co-founder Kapil Sekhri playing the perfect host was overheard discussing plans to set up his own music festival at the vineyard in Solapur. And with West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle at the rooftop venue, it would not be wrong to say that the evening was a heady affair by any standards.