Wrong place, wrong time! Raves in Mumbai

A tale of two sparrows. The one at the bottom is beautifully crafted out of silver, and is a part of the artistic table decor at one of the greatest restaurants in the world - Le Louis XV in Monaco. The other was stealing nuts from our table at my all-time favourite Cafe - Les Deux Magots in Paris. Both tell their own stories!

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So, finally we have spotted Ash at Cannes. All comments reserved!

This appeared in Bombay Times yesterday.....

Wrong place,wrong time...

Somehow, last week’s cop raid on the rave party in Juhu which saw several red faces (hiding behind handbags and caps), smacks of a set-up. Some random disgruntled Johnny may have tipped off the cops, to settle scores with someone. It happens.And our cops love nothing better than to bust these sort of parties accompanied by hordes of photographers. Meanwhile hard core criminals and terrorists whizz in and out of Mumbai, manage to escape from police vans, trick these very same cops over and over again, and the cops offer no explanations. It’s the raves that get all the publicity since those involve glamourous ,high profile, affluent party goers.And a couple of young cricketers – as in this case. This is not to ‘justify’ such events, and of course, those found guilty, must be punished. But what about the others who may have been there just to chill out and have fun , minus narcotics or booze? One doesn’t have to attend a rave to find drugs. Walk into any 5-star hotel loo during a mega-Sangeet function or after a swishy fashion show and you’ll find the city’s elite openly indulging in the white stuff. There are die hard, party hard types of all ages and income brackets who do believe things go better with coke ( not the cola!). Howcome, the cops don’t barge into these celebrations? Because of the profile of powerful guests - the presence of top cops, ministers, industrialists, movie stars and yes, cricketers? How many of us remember to carry liquor permits when we step out? If this rule was made mandatory and each time we visited a bar, we were asked to produce a permit, I’m sure we’d comply – we’d have to, or we’d go without slaking our thirst. It is the lack of consistency that confuses party goers. One person’s rave is another person’s social evening. The lines are as fuzzy as the substance being peddled. Let the message go out strongly by all means. And then, stick to it. No matter who’s hosting such parties. As of now, there are clear double standards. The entire process of taking urine samples in unsterilised, unmarked bottles is a joke.And one tends to sympathise with South African player Wayne Parnell(he is on the WADA- World Anti-Doping Agency list) who shrugged philosophically , Ï was at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Better luck next time, buddy!

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Wow! The Indian “Gamcha’’ has made the biggest fashion statement at Cannes, all thanks to Anurag Kashyap’s imaginative party trick to promote his acclaimed ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’’. The humble,desi hand towel had foreign delegates raving ( oops, wrong word!) and for once, India’s presence at the prestigious film festival,garnered compliments for and focused attention on our movies(Vasan Bala’s ‘Peddlers ’’and Ashim Ahluwalia’s ‘Miss Lovely’) and not on what some starlet promoting hair products wore on the red carpet. Does this herald the rebirth of quality Indian cinema? Let the celebrations begin! Where’s my Gamcha???