“We were eager to read about how Rupert Murdoch broke through India’s airwaves, how Amitabh Bachchan re-launched his career with KBC, and how the whole Saas Bahu soap domination of the middle classes,” says the man with not a little regret in his voice.

“But when we received the manuscript, it was a complete dud. Dull as dishwater and we had to reject it!” What he fails to add is that Mukerjea had been probably burning the midnight oil penning his masterpiece around the same time when Sheena Bora’s murder was taking place. Someone ought to check those pages lying around in some publisher’s archives for what lies between the lines reveals. Dull as dishwater indeed.

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Farm to fork finesse
Friday evening we found ourselves in the Shakti Mills compound, at the hotly anticipated Masque for a special preview meal before it officially opens next month. Masque is a farm to fork concept restaurant that boasts of handpicked, fresh seasonal ingredients and is the brainchild of Aditi Dugar and Chef Prateek Sadhu, who come on board with a lot of previous experience in the industry.

Chef Prateek Sadhu

Aditi is a partner at Sage and Saffron (one of Mumbai’s popular catering companies) and Prateek has worked with the Taj Group in New York, Le Cirque in Bangalore and also had a stint at the world renowned Noma in Copenhagen.

Masque will offer special tasting menus of three, six or nine courses. Some of the stand out dishes we sampled included a concoction of corn and chocolate ceremoniously blow torched on the table, fresh baby lobster with a smoked potato puree, almond and pickled peaches, and a buckwheat and olive oil cake served with chocolate mousse.

“In cooking, people say the real stars are the ingredients. I think the actual stars are the farmers, the people who put their heart and soul into growing these ingredients. Seeing a farmer grow his produce is always inspiring – it’s what drives me the most,” says the Kashmir-born chef Prateek.

One man’s humour...
What do you get when you have a hall peppered with some of the country’s most powerful and best-known media personalities? Well, if you are Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar you poke fun at them, ask them about their sex lives and make them balance themselves precariously, on suspiciously unsteady looking chairs as a punishment.

Tanmay Bhat, Rajdeep Sardesai and Cyrus Broacha

All this and more was what went down on Saturday night at the Jamshed Bhabha Auditorium, when the two aforementioned funny men hosted yet another instalment of their ‘Forty shades of Gray (Hair),’ to an audience sprinkled with the likes of Bachi Karkaria, Ayaz Memon, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sanjay Jha and Sunil Alagh amongst others.

The show, a paean to what the duo does best – poke fun at the idiosyncrasies of current day India, was peppered with their past gems: Broacha’s enduring spoof on Arnab Goswami (‘Times Wow’) in which he attempts to mimic the famous anchor’s irascible style of interviewing his guests against a backdrop of rising flames; a delightful spoof by Vijayakar on Mumbai’s wanna be joggers, and of course the highlight: Vijayakar’s caricature of the nation’s nightingale Lata Mangeshkar in all her glory.

Which brings us to the moot point: how come when Vijayakar pokes fun at Mangeshkar, he is rewarded with applause, laughter and when the same thing is attempted by Tanmay Bhat, all hell breaks loose? Could it be that the veterans have understood just how far you can go taking on India’s holy cows which newbies cannot?

The wellness Highness
Mickey Mehta is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the wellness sector in India. We have known Mickey for over two decades and have been witness to his remarkable journey from an enthusiastic black belt martial arts trainer to a holistic Guru and the leading authority on wellness today.

Mickey Mehta

He is also one of the most in-demand celebrity trainers, and his website lists that he has trained Priyanka Chopra, Aamir Khan, Smriti Irani and corporate honchos like Anil Ambani, Kumarmangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia and Rati Godrej.

And though he is usually mum on the subject, we are informed that he was an integral force behind Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ weight-loss journey. Today Mickey turns 54 and a spokesperson informs us he will celebrate it with a 54% discount across his chain.

Looking back, looking forward
Pioneering designer Ritu Kumar’s take on ‘vintage sportswear’ at a fashion show on Saturday served as a palate cleanser sorbet between the heavy weight evening presentations. Her theme for the season was sportswear inspired by street style in a palette of colourful and soft tones.

Ritu Kumar and Kriti Sanon

It was interesting to see Kumar, who had championed the Indian fashion story decades ago, embrace such an international and outward looking collection.

“I do think if there is a future for India to go truly with a soul, relevant in international and indigenous fashion with an identity, it’s this route,” she said when we spoke later. Nice!