May 09, 2000

Partners in Time

THE 25th wedding anniversary bash of Suresh and Devika Bhojwani was a riot of people, colour and a true celebration of the timelessness inherent in a good partnership. The Mayfair Rooms were spacious enough to accommodate the 400-odd guests that were the select invitees to this landmark celebration. As the couple greeted each and every guest at the door, the popping of flash bulbs and the whirring of the video camera led one straight into diva mode. Devika looked lovely in an old emerald and vilandi panire — her anniversary gift, she whispered softly.

Though a large gathering by any standard, it seemed to me that there was a warmth and goodwill that was catchy, ensuring that everyone had a jolly good time. Having decided to be a spot racy myself, I was quite flattered to be at the receiving end of a few compliments and must admit that it was indeed one of the best summer parties I’ve been to this season. Sanjeev Chowdhury had gallantly escorted Sonia Garware and myself to the event. We soon joined Meera Gandhi, Kailash and Aarti Surendranath, Mr Sanghi, Hema Deora, A D Singh, Sunita and Pradeep Saxena, Anu and Tariq Ansari for an exchange of social pleasantries. There was a short audio-visual show that highlighted the couple’s 25 years and then the singing duo sang some of their favourites for the gathering. Soon Sophiya and Jules Fuller started belting some real ‘foot-tapping dancing shoes to go’ kind of songs that had a throng of us on the dance floor. Nirmal and Meera Zaveri, Rashmi and Shekhar Mehta, Achla Sachdev, Ayesha, Suresh Menon, Ravi and Bandana, Nikhil Khanna, Rajan Kilachand, Czaee Shah, Rajesh Shah, Suchitra Pillai, Marc Robinson, Vivek Nair and I managed to chat and shake a leg at some point in the next couple of hours.

At about two, Sonia, Sanjeev and I left out of sheer exhaustion. The city I’m sure wishes the popular couple as many more years and then some of wedded bliss. A rock solid relationship comes when both parties keep to a one-point agenda of togetherness, despite the roller coaster aspect of life. How sad that, in the New World, divorce and separation are seen as the quick fix solution to a bad patch in a marriage.

No one is perfect so how can there be perfection in any human relationships? It is in the endurance and the understanding of the weaknesses of each other that the true blue-blooded come through. Half of the marital woes in the city can be neatly summed up as people being intolerant and thus losing out on what can be the regret of a lifetime later. Loneliness eventually festers and kills. Even so to everyone out there, I say from the bottom of my heart, try and try again. Learn from your mistakes and never shy away from saying you are sorry, take responsibility for your actions. And please, all you men out there don’t expect Sleeping Beauty if you are not exactly Prince Charming. There are no fairytale endings in life, just a will to survive and a need to be together. If Devika and Suresh are after 25 years so devoted I hope they can help some of the unhappy to find their own little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of life-marriage.
Dov Steinberg, the Consul General of Israel, celebrated Israel Day on Tuesday at a well attended reception at the Taj. Vijay Kalantri looking dapper in gray and white stood chatting with Sanjeev Chowdhury and I. We were briefly introduced to Mr Chavan, the Revenue Minister, before he was ushered on to the dias for the toast. As the national anthems of both nations were played, I couldn’t help get misty-eyed and mouthing the final ‘Jaya Hai’ I felt a surge of true pride in being Indian. In the New Age World we live in, I often ponder the place of nationalism and patriotism. The Internet, e-commerce, even hacking, as the Love Bug Virus proved having originated in far off Phillipines the global village is part of our existence, and the porous filtering of knowledge across the globe will slowly rob national identity. Back to the present, I met an old colleague of my brother’s, Captain Tandon, and another old friend Dolly Gurbaxani to hark back on old times. The delicious hummus, tabouleh lent an authentic touch to a lovely evening.

On Thursday, The Zodiac Grill, now poised atop the Taj, was the venue of a farewell reception to His Excellency Claude Blanchemaison, the French Ambassador. He leaves to go as the Ambassador to Russia. He will be missed not just by the diplomats but by the many friends he made. A warm, charming, caring man, he had a close gathering to wish him that evening. A small group of us touched on our inner core to talk about real issues and it is at moments like these that life seems so worthwhile. We will miss Claude but but he said he’d learnt and imbibed from India and her people, but most of all he was fascinated by the rebirth philosophy inherent in Hinduism. I must admit to a feeling that despite living through a patch of my private hell a sense of temporary lifting of the spirit on all these three events I attended. In fact, the two diplomatic functions lent an air of the capital to amchi Mumbai. Beam me up, Scotty, anyone?

I’m off to have dinner with Prince Edward — courtesy Star TV. More about it next week.

 

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