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Root
of the Problem
 Two
of Mumbai's majestic rain trees are to be uprooted from Veer Savarkar
Marg, one of city's busiest arteries where they have stood impudently
ever since the road was widened a decade ago. Last fortnight, Shiv Sena
MLA Vishaka Raut suggested that they be given the axe, but when officials
arrived with saws and choppers they were stopped by a group of irate locals
and environmentalists, Chipko style. Embarrassed, the Mumbai municipality
has now decided to transplant the giants ... at an estimated cost of Rs
45 lakh. However, concerned citizens are pointing out that it would be
much more economical to instal neon signboards and reflectors to warn
motorists. Meanwhile, as their fate is being decided, the regal trees
still continue to reign supreme over the carriageway.
-Farah
Baria
Stars
of Fashion: The
champagne-sipping audience at Famous Studio, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, kept saying
that they'd never seen a show like it. The mega fund-raiser for AIDS infected
women and children by fashion duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (below,
with Jaya Bachchan and Dimple Kapadia) on November 10 lived up to its
pre-event hype. Highlights: opera-style sets designed by Bijoy Das; 32
top models displaying the surfeit of zardozi, applique and Persian tendrils;
Bollywood beauties (like Sonali Bendre, right) taking to the runway and
others like Rekha (left, with Jaya Bachchan) thronging beside it. Last
count-Rs 30 lakh raised for charity.
-Natasha
Israni
Dancing
to Her Tunes
This
St Xavier's student from Mumbai, claiming to be India's first female deejay,
had hopped over to take charge of Someplace Else, Park Hotel, Delhi for
a month. "I have a non-negotiable rate-Rs 60,000 per show,"
says Ambika Babbar, 21. Future plans include a fusion album and a stint
at London nightclub Ministry of Sound (the club heard her tribal house
sounds on MP3). The downside? "I've had fights with people who stare
because I'm a girl deejay," says Babbar. We think she can handle
it.
-Leher
Kala
Cache
Happy
The
honchos of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusets, desisted from
breaking the big news in America itself: that a big chunk of the Chester
and Davida Herwitz collection, among the largest caches of contemporary
Indian art, now belonged to them. "Herwitzs' efforts could never
be repeated," said Dan Monroe, the thick-set CEO of the museum at
the celebratory do at the Roosevelt House in Delhi hosted by the American
Amassador Richard Celeste.
Pretty unlikely. Chester Herwitz, a fashion accessories sourcing American
businessman, first came to India in the early 1960s with wife Davida,
saw M.F. Husain's intense take on street life, Zameen, and got addicted.
Their 30-year accumulative spree had over 3,000 works of art (with about
a thousand Kalighats), about 850 of which have been bequeathed to the
museum, incorporating works by Jamini Roy, Nasreen Mohamedi, S.H. Raza,
Ravinder Reddy and, of course, Husain. The Herwitzs' also established
enduring friendships with a number of prominent Indian artists and curators
many of whom turned up to cheer the monumental largess at the 6-8 p.m.
soiree. Davida (Chester died tragically in a car crash last year), close
to 80 and looking immaculate in a red dress with clumps overhanging gold,
wistfully said, "It's safe now."
-Anshul
Avijit
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The
Indian industry has increased its decibel level of whining. Instead, it
should get the government to deliver, says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor
V. Shankar Aiyar in 
