02 April,2015 06:01 AM IST | | Malavika Sangghvi
This is our third catering for PM Narendra Modi. The earlier two were when he was CM of Gujarat, says restaurateur Farrokh Khambata of Catering & Allied, the company that runs four restaurants in Mumbai: Joss, Umame, Amadeus and the Cafe at the NCPA, about his assignment today, which will see the PM and other dignitaries visiting the Jamshed Bhabha Theater at the NCPA to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the RBI
Farrokh Khambata (left) plans an elaborate lunch for PM Narendra Modi
PM Narendra Modi
What's on the menu, we asked the foodie? "There will be our famous khao suey, which the PM has tasted and loved twice before, which I recommend for inclusion on the menu," he said. "I also have created a panko crusted kehar sanghri ka kofta and aloo dum with jhalmuri sprinkle along with thikri ki daal," said Khambata. "As for the dessert, it will be Mishti doi kulfi and Molecular Jalebi with Hazelnut Phirni," he said.
"Our PM is affable, dynamic and pragmatic and a light eater," says the delighted Khambata adding that the standing special instructions for his famous client are always: Ginger tea, Marie biscuit and Himalayan water.
The Delhi code of necklines
"Many asked me why the skin show when it could have been a perfect red carpet gown," said Goa-based designer Wendell Rodricks about this svelte creation which he presented at the recently concluded Amazon India Fashion Week.
Wendell Rodericks' Resortwear gown at the AIFW
"But I stand for Resortwear. A regular gown would be beautiful but boring," he said, "So we anchored the entire gown on a swimsuit. But after we do media and file/lookbook photos, we will remove the hip gap, raise the neckline from Kanyakumari to New Delhi and poof! you will have a respectable red carpet gown."
Wendell Rodricks
er, what does the phrase 'from Kanyakumari to New Delhi' mean, we asked the designer who was conferred the Padma Shri for his service to his profession. "It means a deep neckline raised to respectable acceptable version," he quipped. Nice!
Star-studded show
This Saturday, the Grand Hyatt will witness a galaxy of stars walking the ramp for Shabana Azmi, Namrata Goel and Manish Malhotra's NGO Mijwan, which supports the empowerment of women. "The show is all about legacy.
Jaya with Abhishek Bachchan
So we have Anil and Sonam Kapoor, Shatrughan and Sonakshi Sinha, Javed and Farhan Akhtar and Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan showing off beautiful summer chikankari work," said Malhotra, who has recently used his success to support many good causes (last month his LFW outing The Blue Runway was in partnership with the World Bank).
Anil with Sonam Kapoor will walk the ramp for Mijwan
"This will be my fourth show for Mijwan and marks my fourth year of involvement with the NGO. Today from 40 women there are more than 200 girls employed, and that for me is the best thing to have happened," said the designer.
When asked about the theme of this year's show, Azmi says, "Mijwan is a legacy from Kaifi to me, and from me to my goddaughter (Namrata). It is only befitting that parent-child pairs walk together for empowerment of the girl child, showing Mijwan's craft in Manish Malhotra's creation."
Catching Tharoor's eye
"It started as a solo blog called 'Rodinhood' The combination of Auguste Rodin who had sculpted 'The Thinker' and Robin Hood who did good things," says Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal about 'TheRodinhoods', a vibrant online community of nearly 10,000 entrepreneurs founded by him in November 2010, which recently won that Holy Grail of our modern times a mention in a tweet by Twitter king and MP Shashi Tharoor yesterday.
Shashi Tharoor
"On Monday, one of our lady entrepreneurs, on TheRodinhoods a techpreneur called Kinnari Thacker Dave wrote an Open Letter to Uber urging them to incorporate some more technology into their hardware to ensure the safety of the passenger. She came up with many suggestions. I shared Kinnari's article over my social networks and it went viral," he said adding, "Kinnari also wrote an email to Shashi Tharoor sharing this article and he replied by sharing it over Twitter!"
Alok Kejriwal (right) with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
As for the raison for his online evangelism he says: "Being an entrepreneur myself, with many scars on my back, I knew how lonely entrepreneurship could get. So to share my learnings and make the journey of entrepreneurs less lonely, I created a social network for entrepreneurs," said the putative tech tycoon whose April fool's joke about giving it all up and joining his namesake at AAP was called out early in the day.
"In less than 5 years, it has become a valuable resource pool for the Indian startup community with around 5,000 discussions and blogs featured," he says, "This gave them a platform to share their stories their victories and pain points, showcase their new ventures and ideas, seek guidance and advice from fellow entrepreneurs whenever they faced a roadblock."
As for Kinnari's suggestions that caught Tharoor's eye, she has also written to that other star of the micro-blogging universe, PM Modi himself. "TheRodinhoods gives many entrepreneurs a forum to discuss ideas, scale them and create value," said a delighted Kejriwal.
An excess of PDA
She's easily the brightest button in the Bollywood box of new stars, and with a few hits under his belt and clean-cut boy next-door looks, they undoubtedly make a cute pair. But when they were spotted getting a bit too close for comfort on a recent flight together, it created a bit of a flutter. "They were totally unmindful of the clucking tongues and disapproving stares from their fellow passengers," says a source, "This PDA was definitely not appreciated."
