Case for defence
The country's highest law officer comes under a cloud as the Congress joins issue with Jethmalani in accusing him of "grose impropriety"

Marx to Mamta
The first real challenge to the CPI(M) in its rural bastion leads to a bloodbath

Fifth Column
by Talveen Singh
Commons' Problem

Kautilya
by Jairam Ramesh
Beyond the Mumbo-Jumbo

Right Angle
by Swapan Dasgupta
India Can't Endure Pain

Flip side
by Dilip Bobb
Heroic Events

Battle On the sidelines
While the battle continues in the Rajya Sabha on the Jethmalani resignation issue, no-one missed the intra-Congress battle between Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh

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LIVING, MUMBAI WOMEN
Work Hard Play Harder

They are successful, single, sexy and savvy. Women in the metro's upper echelon are living life queen size.

By Anupam Chopra and Sheela Raval

It's a typical monsoon night in Mumbai. Angry skies, sheets of rain, water-clogged streets and snarled traffic. None of which is changing Ravina Raj Kohli's mind. Kohli, 30-something, is the in coming CEO of Nine Broadcasting India Private Ltd, Kerry Packer's foray into Indian TV. She's taken in eight meetings today. She's played hard ball with producers and been analytical, precise and resolutely firm.

But right now, she's singing. It's karaoke night at a hot south Mumbai club and Kohli, in a shimmering lacy black top, is occupying centrestage. She's obviously having a great time. A nattily dressed man at the next table exclaims, "What oomph, man."

Kohli is a Bombay babe. Single, successful, sexy, savvy. By day, they are hardcore professionals, working long hours, matching their male colleagues in strength, street smartness and resolve. But if you're thinking power suit with no soul, you're wrong.

That haloed male executive motto, work hard and party hard, is now equally a chick thing. At night they are socialites, slipping from sari to strapless with ease. It's dinners, discos, pubs and clubs. Fun mixed with dollops of absolutely essential networking.

But the dated stereotype of the doggedly dowdy feminist is out. This is a post-feminist generation of women who revel in being female. After all, style is also power. So it's personal trainers, designer labels and killer attitude. Often occupying space in society columns, they bring buzz and vivacity to Mumbai. Are they butterflies? Absolutely. But only in that classic Muhammad Ali sense of "floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee".

Kohli's not alone. Meet Sameera Anand, 31, vice-president, ICICI Securities and Finance. Anand, one of the top investment bankers in Mumbai, cuts business deals with uncanny precision. Clad in saris -- "people in the finance field are still traditional so you can't afford to look too hip" -- she manoeuvres crores of rupees casually. But her evening avatar is unrecognisable. The saris give way to mini skirts and lycra and she becomes "an energetic butterfly with multiple interests". Anand is a regular at Mumbai's current "in" disco Fire-N-Ice. Some day, she hopes to start her own company.

Rina Shah, 25, already has. Shah started her accessories line of high-end shoes and handbags "as a hobby" in 1997. Today, Rinaldi, with clients like the Ambani women and a host of Bollywood actresses, is synonymous with upmarket chic. But there is life beyond shoes. Shah candidly says that she parties "way too much".

As Kohli puts it, "In Mumbai, the conversation piece is not your solitaires but your job." Even women who are to the manor born work. Sonia Garware describes herself as "a second-generation socialite". But her ambition is to be "queen of the boardroom". So the 29-year-old daughter of industrialist Shashikant Garware downs three cups of coffee and starts work at 9.30 a.m. as head of the Suncontrol division. She hopes to achieve the "businessperson of the year" title before she's 45.

Rachna Narang, 35, who comes from the famous hotelier family never imagined she would work. "I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth," she says. But after her mother's death, her brother Sanjay coaxed her to take up business responsibilities. The duo run the Mars Restaurant chain. She is presently setting up a boutique hotel with 30 rooms and three restaurants.

Ekta Kapoor dumped the silver spoon early. The 25-year-old daughter of filmstar Jeetendra dropped out of college at 18 and embarked on a career in TV. Today, Balaji Telefilms, which she heads, is a hotshot production house that churns out 15 serials and Kapoor, who dons business suits for meetings so that people will take her more seriously, dreams of heading a "media empire". Kapoor parties two or three times a week. But her idea of a good time is slightly different: at times, she simply packs 15 people in a car and drives to town with the music blaring.

In typical Bambaiya fashion, the work ethic is firmly in place. But so is the urge to party. Paulomi Sanghavi, the 28-year-old owner of Paulomi's Treasures, a tony jewellery store, heads out every weekend. She prefers dinners over discos but going out is essential. "My business is very demanding. Being unsocial doesn't really help." Dilshad Pastakia agrees. Pastakia, 31, is Mumbai's high priestess of hairstyling. Clients like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Raj Thackeray and Smita Thackeray trust only her with their locks. Waiting time for an appointment: a week.

Pastakia works seven hours a day but the weekends are her own. "I meet 17-18 complete strangers a day," she says, "You need relief. I go out at least twice a week." Shah doesn't wait for weekends. Driving her Honda City herself, she hits the happening places. "I just love meeting people," she says.

Exactly. Partying doesn't mean the mind-obliterating-drink-till-you-puke teenage version. It means having fun but also networking. And it doesn't hurt when photographs grace the society pages the next morning. No one actively solicits the press but they are savvy enough to understand that the right type of visibility furthers business. In fact Garware writes a weekly column in Mid-Day newspaper called "Sonia Speaks". What does she speak about? Mostly about the parties she attended that week.

These women put the zing into Mumbai nights. Canadian vice-consul Sanjeev Chowdhary, an "inveterate networker", says that their mere presence "brings the conversation to a new level of sophistication". Other men are equally impressed. Aditya Kilachand, son of that consummate Bombay Babe Shobha De, says, "Mumbai women are on the cutting edge compared to their counterparts in other cities. They're sassy and well-travelled, bringing a lot of international flavour to the social scene." Vishal Gondal, the 23-year-old CEO of Indiagames.com, sums it up: "They surely light up the night life."

Not just with their sparkling conversation. The smart woman knows that while you get respect for cutting a good deal, you are also respected for cutting a dashing figure. Not for them the clich s of unwaxed feminists in cotton kurtas and kolhapuris. These women are as focused on their looks as their work. Personal trainers, who can fit exercise into a busy schedule, are a must. Kapoor works out religiously every day. Sonia has her own gym and practises Tae Bo. Shah plays tennis thrice a week.

Clothes are also high on the priority list. Only the best designer labels will do. Jasmin Sohrabji, the 30-something vice-president of Media.Com, the media arm of Trikaya-Grey, is both a workaholic and a shopaholic. Her motto: "Why earn if you can't spend it." She works killing hours and then de-stresses by picking up names like DKNY, Ann Taylor and Gucci. Narang's handbags are Ferragammo and her shoes, Gucci. Sanghavi is partial to Prada. "I don't buy junk. Everything has to be perfect. After all you are your own ad." Shah won't leave home without the right labels.

However, many of these women are still looking for a suitable boy. By all accounts, they've been at the receiving end of some of the world's worst pick-up lines. Kohli was waxing eloquent at a business meeting, when an actor stopped her with "Are you single?" She nodded and continued. After a few minutes, he interrupted again: "Are you seeing someone?" At which point she burst out laughing. There are many suitors but there simply aren't, as Chowdhury puts it, enough "single successful men who can match up".

The women insist they aren't "looking for Tom Cruise". Just someone intelligent, faithful, confident and charming will do. But it has to feel right. Till then, they are content being single. Alone doesn't translate into lonely. Besides, when you are so successful, being single isn't a stigma.

But then Mumbai is that kind of city. It's cosmopolitan, frenetic and chillingly competitive. Success is more important than gender. So women, especially those in the upper echelon, can live on their own terms. As Jaspreet Bindra, the 30-year-old chief operating officer of Baazee.com, puts it, "The Mumbai woman brings colour and vivacity to the table. The social pressure to conform to the traditional, coy 'Bharatiya nari' has no role to play here."

Locals have a word for it. Bindaas, as in bold, carefree, cool. That's who the Bombay babe is. Simply bindaas.

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