Head honchos from PricewaterhouseCoopers meet for some laughter and nostalgia

(From l to r) Sid Khanna, Jairaj Purandare, Munesh Khanna, Bobby Parikh, Bela Parikh and Ashok Wadhwa

At one time, Arthur Andersen, based out of Chicago, was amongst the 'big five' accounting firms in the world along with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte. But that was before it went belly up, after a slew of lawsuits following the Enron scandal affected its performance and morale (and the verb en-ronned entered the lexicon).

In India, during its heyday, it had been known as an incubator of exceptional talent, after it opened shop in 1987. Which is why recently, when five of its senior personnel met at an unrelated business event, there was much laughter over shared nostalgia and serendipitous encounters.

The five who met were Sid Khanna (founder of AA's India operations and current chairman and MD of India Equity Partners), Munesh Khanna (who'd worked with Arthur Andersen India for 17 years before joining Merrill's India op), Jairaj Purandare (former national tax head for Andersen, and later, Ernst & Young India), Bobby Parikh (former head of Arthur Anderson and COO of E&Y India, following the merger of the two entities), and Ashok Wadhwa (one of the first CAs to join Arthur Anderson in Mumbai in 1989, when he headed its Tax Advisory Practice till 1996, when he left to found Ambit).

What had struck bystanders at the event about the happy coincidence was that each man had left his mark on the institution, before branching on his own to even more successful enterprises and careers in India's financial universe. "Actually, there was a sixth former Anderson colleague, Dr Rajesh Khanna, who also happened to be there that day, but who'd left before he could pose for the picture," says a business insider. "That would have been a coup!"

Shift in city's cultural axis?
This past weekend saw another historical milestone for the well-appointed Royal Opera House, as it relived its glorious days of the past: the first full three-day opera production in a 100 years played on its stage once more!

Pheroza Godrej, Gerson da Cunha and Anil Dharker

Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage), the much-loved classic 1792 opera by Domenico Cimarosa, was brought by Patricia Rozario and her charitable trust The Giving Voice Society with an all-Indian cast, symphony orchestra and conductor, as one of the performances.

The cast of Il Matrimonio Segreto

In attendance were some of the biggest names in the culture circles - Pheroza Godrej, Anil Dharker and Gerson da Cunha along with various diplomats, including the consular generals of Australia and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, word is out that the migration from South to North is being regarded with a fair deal of alarm by diehard SoBokars, who worry that the cultural axis like that of the F&B might pass them by too.

Of Chief Willies and other members
Once in a while the snootiest club in Mumbai brings the full impact of its rectitude on members who don't play by its rules. This includes arriviste gentlemen who dare to impose their odious charms on its lady members. Which is why the harassment case concerning this senior citizen, with delusions of being one of the Chief Willies of the august institution, refuses to die down.

Amongst the much-married gent's more eccentric ploys was to don a tee shirt two sizes too small, and emblazoned with a saucy message, and leer at pretty young ladies in the library, or on the club's verandah in the hope of starting a conversation. "He had been tolerated for all this while as an old fool, out of consideration for his long-suffering wife," says a source.

"It's just that this time around, he picked the wrong lady to try and flirt with. And her family is not amused." Oh dear! Will the Chief Willy retreat now that his antics have become a cause célèbre? Watch this space.

Gully cricket in style
Of all Mumbai's grand traditions, nothing so epitomises its cool quotient as much as gully cricket. Played on Sundays and other public holidays, on its backstreets and main roads, alongside parked cars and public amenities, with home-made bats and rubber balls or full Test cricket regalia, by street urchins or putative business tycoons, gully cricket epitomises the great democracy of Mumbai's street culture.

Greg Foster. Pic/Râu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Burman

Sachin Tendulkar's diamond is said to have been polished to perfection through it, and Campion and Cathedral's most entitled have stolen a few hours away from homework and math tuitions to lose themselves in its excitement. Even Bolly legends, like the great Dilip Kumar, have succumbed to its attractions in the bylanes of Pali Hill.

Sachin Tendulkar plays at Sahitya Sahawas, where he used to stay

And so, this weekend, when we chanced upon the editor of a stylish international glossy architectural tome, Greg Foster, indulging in a bit of bat and ball on a Mumbai street corner along with an equally well-heeled architect, we could not help but salute the spirit. Gully cricket: as Mumbai as vada pav, or the Churchgate 8.45 am scramble. Long may it rule!

Take that trolls!
In these dark days with their gathering clouds, what could be better than some in-your-face care-a-damn feistiness, especially when it emanates from two spunky and high-profile women, who were supposedly rivals at one time?

Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose

Both erstwhile anchors and now authors and columnists, Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose, have been famously akin to lightening rods for right-wing fundamentalist rage in recent times. Celebrated for their liberal views and their refusal to kowtow to the powers that be, or their legion of trolls, they have both individually taken it on their chin, often giving back as good as they got.

Now, the two women, whose careers and lives have been inextricably linked in many ways, appear to have buried the alleged hatchet and banded together in a great show of strength. "Hello Trolls. Two for the Price of One," posted Dutt on social media along with a selfie of herself and Ghose. We like!