The Maoris are coming

>> Being preternaturally interested in all things fuzzy and new age (we have chanted with Native Indians, had our cranial-sacial fluids balanced and had the benefit of many wildflower healings), we are happy to report that for the first time ever Atarangi Muru, and her group Maori Healers from New Zealand will be visiting India to bring their 12,000-year-old traditional healing techniques to those who need it.

"Ata is one of Maoridoms most respected healers," says Shaan Khatau, filmmaker and new age seeker who has spent many years researching the field. "She grew up in an environment where healing was a natural everyday event, learning the skills and tricks from her uncles and aunts.

Maori women. Representation pic

Her work is deep, unique, uplifting, enlivening and rewarding physically and spiritually. Ata will be accompanied with her brother, Manu - described as "enigmatic and gifted Maori healer."

"During a session, deeply held emotions may be brought to the surface. These emotional experiences are behind all physical, psychological or mental ailments. Their tremendous success all over the world has been a result of successfully addressing the whole body instead of just treating symptoms, and in that way, achieving thousands of ‘miracle healings'," says Khatau. As they say, be there, or be square!

Easy Riders
>>u00a0The coming of the monsoons inspires Mumbaikars to all kinds of activity: walks in the park, treks and drives in and around Matheran and Mahabaleshwar and motorbike adventures! Or so we learnt from Aditya Raj Kapoor, the dashing son of the late great veteran Shammi. "I went to the Satara Kass plateau on a Royal Enfield with 16 other bikers from a club called Bisons Ride Hard," he informed us.

Aditya Raj Kapoor

The Club's mission statement incidentally describes it as a club ‘Not for the weak or faint hearted. Like we ride & we ride hard when it rains, when the roads are bad or there are none and when we have no destination to reach. The club is about the beast in all of us.' Like Yeah! Like Vroom! Like we like!

A journey to the South Pole
>>u00a0Vijay M Crishna, the Executive Director of Lawkim Motors Group, Vikhroli and well-known stage actor has been a busy man in the past few days. Not only did he present The Museum Society of Bombay and Cymroza Art Gallery, a talk accompanied by a multi-media presentation titled Journey to World's End about his travels to the Antarctic in the company of renowned explorer Sir Robert Swan earlier in the week, but yesterday members of the Bombay Gym were afforded the same treat.u00a0

Vijay Crishna with Sir Robert Swan

Held in the main dining room, and with the club's famous tea and egg sandwiches at hand, the likes of Zenia Lawyer, Manek Davar, Manek Guzder and Gul Kriplani, were among the 100-strong audience that was given a first hand account of the fragile beauty of the South Pole.u00a0Crishna, an avid trekker and Life Member of The Himalayan Club since 1973 has trekked in some of the world's most alluring destinations like the Annapurna base camp and Muktinath areas in Nepal, Green Lakes in North Sikkim, Ladakh and Western Tibet. "I grew up in the hills, Simla, and walked three miles to school and three miles back. So, trekking came naturally! I trekked as a schoolboy to the Pindari Glacier but the one that will always live with me is the trek over the Himalaya on the pilgrim trails to Mt Kailash and Lake Mansarovar," he says. But Vijay's message was a bit more than a traveller's tales. He has a missionary zeal to highlight the disturbing ecological condition the world faces. "The water situation we face is so serious that it's perhaps a blessing in disguise we understand so little about it!" he says. "The whole of South East Asia faces it but India and China - who have misused and polluted their rivers so seriously, are especially vulnerable. There are no easy solutions, as it would take generations of dedicated efforts to bring back even part parity. Water Wars lie ahead of us as a genuine possibility!"

Big-ticket social event
>>u00a0Word has it that the much-awaited fashion show and launch of the book celebrating Abu-Sandeep's 25 years in designing will be held on August 18 at Antilia and hosted by none other than Nita Ambani, after all.

Abu-Sandeep with Jaya Bachchan

Friends of the duo were sent text messages to alert them to the event next month and the grapevine had it that the venue would be a South Mumbai museum. Given the combined social clout of all parties involved, this one promises to be a big-ticket event for Mumbai.

Nita Ambani

Yale and the art of marketing books
>>u00a0Ashwin Sanghi, best selling author (The Rozabal Line and Chanakya's Chant,) has brought to his writing career all the lessons that an MBA from Yale would: his latest tome The Krishna Key which reviews have described as yet another exhaustively researched whopper of a plot, is being marketed with all the flair that only the scion of a well-heeled Mumbai business family would understand with formidable web, and social networking presence and links to websites and other less traditional ways of sampling and buying.u00a0

Ashwin Sanghi

For instance, Sanghi's legion of fans can read the first five chapters of his latest book online before pre-ordering it. That's what an expensive Ivy League education teaches you! u00a0