Mumbai Diary page: Monday Musings

Goodbye, ATP Sarathy
The list of big names amongst Mumbai's sports journalists is getting shorter. Yesterday, the journalistic fraternity woke up to the news of ATP Sarathy's demise.

Sports journalists R Sriman (extreme left), Eddie Fernandes, ATP Sarathy and Sunder Rajan (right) with a cricket bag during a tournament for journalists during the 1970s

Sarathy (93) served the Indian Express before The Daily with distinction. Readers of the defunct tabloid will remember his daily column called ‘In My Opinion' in which Sarathy spared no one when it came to slip-ups in sports administration, or on-field follies. Sarathy belonged to a generation that took great pride in competing well during the annual JK Bose cricket tournament for journalists.

It is believed one captain during the 1970s discovered that their train had halted at a station for so long, that his team could grab an opportunity to have a decent practice session on the platform. So he called his troops out to practice on the platform. That they may have returned for another round of drinks, is besides the point.

India's batting legend Sunil Gavaskar paid him a rich tribute yesterday. "He was a top writer and a good old fashioned journalist. You don't find too many journos like him anymore. May his soul rest in peace," said Gavaskar. Sarathy was president of Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) and Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai (SJAM), the last mentioned body felicitated him among other veterans last year.

ATP, you will be missed.

Scene and Heard
The kind of things one hears in the VIP lounge at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2014 at Palladium Hotel, surely makes you think.

Like TV personality and host Shonali Nagrani disclosing that she was into Buddhist chants and that this has helped her in her outlook towards life, always possessing a happy disposition and ready to take on the world. Word has it that she diligently does her Buddhist chants twice a day, 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening.

Chatting with Shonali Nagrani was Cedric Braz, who shuttles between Mumbai and Dubai, and who enlightened that he was a ‘hospitality stylist' which sounds pretty impressive even if you don't know what it is. Talking about shuttling between cities, Anil Chopra who started LFW does his bit of shuttling, between Mumbai and Goa.

In fact, he informs that he is in Goa once a month (lucky man!). While ‘Roll over Beethoven' was being played in the lounge, designer and stylist Aki Narula was heard telling a friend that he was growing old gracefully, though we did not see any signs of ageing in his youthful persona.

The always - snazzily dressed Vikram Raizada was reminiscing of his MTV days as he spotted a veteran photographer carrying an MTV bag that he had properly padded to keep his expensive camera safe. And there's one more thing that you hear in the lounge: One glass of white wine, please.

- Marcellus Baptista