Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Not the seven-year itch, this!
Did you know that Karvi, a lavender-pink flower blooms just once in seven years? Largely across the Western Ghats and its sub-ranges in Maharashtra, Goa, parts of Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, Strobilanthes callosa (or Karvi in Marathi and Kannada) blooms sporadically during late monsoons in intermediate years.

Karvi in bloom. Pic Courtesy/Dr Ashok Kothari

However, its mass flowering, which is between August-end and mid-September, is a rare, seven-year phenomenon, last witnessed in the city forests in 2008. If you are keen to welcome the beauties, we suggest you participate in a week-long festival (from August 29) organised at BNHS Conservation Education Centre in Goregaon where guests can witness large patches of hill-sides decked with the purple flowers via nature trails. If you miss it, another seven-year wait beckons.

Foot falls, and star entries

Pic/Bipin Kokate

Actor Riteish Deshmukh humours a security guard who went through the motions of a body check at the entry to a multiplex last evening.

Waluscha, the ‘anti' bride
As various bridal shows set to open for the season, Falguni and Shane Peacock's latest collection pays an ode to what they call the ‘anti' bride. The label also features popular model Walusha D'Souza (post her acting debut in SRK starer, Fan).

"We have created beautiful separates that can be worn together forming a cohesive ensemble or separately as statement pieces. Featuring traditional embroidery, the outfits are inspired by the artworks of Jaipur palaces and French architecture, in a diverse color palette especially those who want to make a Goth style statement!" says Falguni.

Watch out for the designer' signature gowns, anarkali gowns with prints, lehengas with foil appliqué, sarees with light crystals, fusion crop tops and digital skirts that are hoping to make waves, particularly at destination weddings.

Meher's back!

After lying low for a while, former model Mehr Jesia was seen in a flirty horse print Surily Goel creation at lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani's 60th birthday party yesterday. That back and those legs make us say, one a model always a model about this mother of teens.

Fathers, daughters and maestros
Former Music Director Zubin Mehta will return to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on November 3-5, with Schubert's Symphony in C major, Great, and Ravi Shankar's Raga-Mala Concerto No. 2, for Sitar and Orchestra, with soloist Anoushka Shankar, as the icon's daughter makes her Philharmonic debut.

Pandit Ravi Shankar with daughter, Anoushka during an earlier performance

The Philharmonic commissioned and premiered the work in April 1981, during Mr Mehta's tenure. In its review of the premiere, The New York Times wrote: "Mr Shankar's ability to echo and extend the coloration of the sitar by the orchestra was often ingenious... he has also been driven throughout his life to bridge the gaps he perceives between the classical Indian tradition and the music of the West..." Now, for NYT's review of this historic passing of the baton.

Zubin Mehta