Einstein mackerels and Tendulkar

gtgt We were delighted to receive these lines on SMS from restaurateur Nico on Thursday ldquoTo the Masterrsquos honour all must turn each in its track without a sound forever tracing Tendulkarrsquos groundrdquo he wrote paraphrasing a poem he says written by Einstein on Newton ldquoWhile we bid farewell to one legend Letrsquos reminisce the Masterrsquos innings over the years with some masterfully prepared cocktails and legendary food inspired by ones love for their craft Only at Nico Bombayrdquo said the avid foodie and cricket lover when we asked him about the SMSu00a0 ldquoI am a huge lover of cricket and have always enjoyed Tendulkar play as I am sure every Indian has In a country that prides itself in mediocrity Sachin is a beacon of hope and we use that as inspiration to keep working towards the same goal albeit in a different professionrdquo he said adding ldquoWe donrsquot have a Sachin centric menu at Nico this week but our panseared rock fish clams and swiss chard chipotle spiced mackerel green apple mustard remoulade and spaghetti vongole Clams done to perfection is our tribute to himrdquo Nico Gogu00a0a Chavala Storm incup gtgt A couple of nights ago attending a lsquopower womenrsquo dinner in Mumbai for fifty of Indiarsquos supposedly most powerful ladies drawn from across the country two grande dames happened to walk in to the venue wearing exactly the same black and white knee length embroidered coat But such was the level of sophistication amongst the crowd that this slight sartorial quirk didnrsquot create the slightest blip in the smooth proceedings of the evening Natasha Poonawalla Not so at Cyrus Poonawallarsquos dinner for Sharon Stone on Saturday night we hear Because no sooner had the beautiful hostess Natasha entered the room in a shimmering blue gown and elicited gushing compliments at how stunning she looked when another of her guests mdash Radhika mdash wife of Anshuman Ruia the Essar billionaire walked in wearing exactly the same gown in the same colour And given that there were no more than 50 people at the party and that the women were both tall and attractive in their own right it became the talk of the evening Sharon Stone with Harsh Goenka at the amfAR dinner hosted at the Taj Mahal hotel ldquoThe gowns themselves were so striking that one couldnrsquot take onersquos eyes off themrdquo says a guest And then to have two of them in the same roomhelliprdquo she chortles ldquoSuffice to say that when the women spotted each other their faces reflected the same shockhorror that beauty queens express when they are pipped to the post in contestsrdquo Oh dear what a storm in a Ccup on Warden road over the weekend But of course the question remains why didnrsquot the hostess change once she saw a guest arriving in the same outfit and set all at ease Whatrsquos a dress albeit a very stunning designer one between friends Ah yes at this sartorially radioactive evening mdash Sharon Stone was a guest too Of coy actors and bold actresses gtgt They like to be known as the most powerful lobbying group in the business environment and their Omerta like code of privacy has rendered them almost invisible but of course individually their members take it all with a pinch of salt so it is with some delight that one learns that the seemingly uptight and stiff upper lipped YPO Young Presidents Organisation had invited adult movie actress Sunny Leone to address their members over the weekend under the aegis of their education chair It was the kickoff of a sevencity tour which the actress would undertake And from those present the actress was a hit not only from the way she looked better than Katrina Kaif and Sharon Stone according to one attendee but the way she spoke ldquoFirstly she spoke in a language that YPO members could understandrdquo says our source ldquoShe explained how the porn industry not only is a multibillion dollar one but it is the fastest growing one and provides one of the biggest growth on returnsrdquo Sunny Leone But what really got the crowd enraptured were Leonersquos candid confessions When she touched upon her desire to be accepted as a toplevel actress she said that her biggest deterrent were male actors and their wives ldquoMany times I have been offered a role in a big movie but the actor is hesitant because of my reputation and in a couple of instances they have asked if they can respond once they have checked with their wivesrdquo said the spunky girl ldquoAnd itrsquos always been a nordquo she added sadly Salaam Mumbaiu00a0To see or not to see Time was when movie reviews were a thing of beauty and a joy forever In the days when plastic was something you sat on and didnrsquot inject into your cheeks the reviews that we read in Indian newspapers and magazines were written with tongue firmly in cheek by people who took pleasure in a particular musical note or a line of dialogue as much as their own turn of phrase or subtle put down of an absurd continuity break But movie reviews like movies these days are a much more serious business And how many stars a film receives has become a topic of great interest to people across the board whether they are in the movie business or not So will I go to see Ram Leela on the basis of its reviews The answer is so divergent are the reviews that going by them Irsquoll have to sit half in and half out of the cinema u00a0