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METROSCAPE
CM On Call
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| Moderator Ashok Vishwanathan (left) with Bhattacharya
and organiser Madhu Neotia |
He isn't always
a model interrogatee. But West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya
has surely never been grilled by Kolkata's glam set. Last week, at a "Big
Dialogue" organised by the Ladies Study Group, Bhattacharya loosened
up enough to field all kinds of questions and admit some of his government's
failures (not checking the brain drain, for example). He also forgot not
to blush when a senior journalist asked him whether he preferred the company
of men or women ("I like both," was Bhattacharya's stammering,
red-faced reply).
But big dialogue turned to conscious dialogue
as industrialists, educationists and the "flatterati" tried
to stay on Bhattacharya's good side. How does a philosopher-visionary
do that amazing job of keeping crime in check? "Our people are peace
loving and they have a cultural tradition of staying away from crime,"
he said. "Also, the state Government is serious about law and order."
Well, two out of three isn't bad.
-Labonita Ghosh
 PRETTY
PUHLEEZE: At the Gladrags Mega Model and Manhunt Contest held at Mumbai's
Turf Club on March 16, contestants were teased by a stream of questions
courtesy judges who included Preity Zinta, Sanjay Dutt and Subhash Ghai.
Mastermind over, it was their slinky gyrations to the tunes of Baha Men's
Who let the dogs out and the theme song of Charlie's Angels that threw
up winners Rajeev Singh, 25 (above left, with, Gladrags editor-in-chief
Maureen Wadia), and Koena Mitra, 21 (above right). Mitra's POA for victory?
"I focused on my make-up and stage presentation ... and didn't worry
about questions at all." Clever girl. The pragmatism of Singh's answer
to the question, "Would you like a housewife or a working woman as
your life's partner?" was his victory call. Said the hunk: "I
prefer the latter because of the importance of a double income in these
expensive times." Smart boy.
-Natasha Israni
Classic In C
 Commemorating
50 years of the Indian Council for Cultural rela-tions, India's high priest
of dilettantism, required an appropriately "dignified" celebration.
So it was that the Capital's Kamani auditorium, usually crammed with people
who wouldn't know a kettlehorn from a trombone, was, on March 17, crammed
instead with people agog for a performance by the Merck Philharmonic Chamber
Orchestra. Mozart's Overture to "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Concert
for Flute and Orchestra in G major" with 29-year-old solo flautist
Henrik Wiese, Schnittke's "Mozart à la Haydn" and Beethoven's
"Symphony No 1 in C major" didn't however tempt audience members
to remain incommunicado. "When the cell phone rang," said conductor
Christian Rudolf Riedel, "I wanted to turn around and say 'when Brahma
created the world there was a moment's silence. We too are creating a
world and need si-lence!'" Delhi was the last stop on the Darmstadt-based
orchestra's seven city Indian tour. Wiese's most memorable experience?A
classical dance performance in Chennai. Ours? Seeing (if not quite recognising)
the entire string family, two French horns, two trumpets, two flutes,
two oboes and a pair of kettlehorns on the same stage.
-Sonia Faleiro
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