Another Mody rises?

Jaydev Mody with the winning horse Quasar

With his win of the Pune Derby on Sunday for the second time running when his horse Quasar rode off with the coveted cup, and following on the hooves of the success of his filly Nozipho in Kenya earlier this year, silver-maned gaming tycoon Jaydev Mody is on a winning streak.

Jaydev Mody with the winning horse Quasar

Is it true that the racing enthusiast, who owns around 70 horses jointly or in partnership, has announced that he will contest RWITC elections this year? "Up until a couple of days ago, I was in two minds," says the man, who is surrounded by a wealth of female beauty and intelligence with the presence of his lawyer-wife Zia and their three daughters. "But this weekend saw me throw my hat in to the ring."

What helped him decide?

"Well, I had taken a break for a few years, hoping that new candidates would step in and improve things," he says, ever the gentleman, diplomatically choosing his words with care, "But when that didn't happen, I decided to step in myself , especially since our lease expired and we are expecting it to be renewed this year."

And what should we expect if he wins? "I've been on the subcommittee for the grounds and stands already," he says, "But if I come in, I want to substantially improve things, put in squash and tennis courts for members and upgrade the facilities and infrastructure all round."

And if this winning streak is any indication, the hotly contested and often fractious RWITC elections just got more exciting!

The dragon king and his queen
"His Majesty is very romantic and when he kissed Her Majesty in front of the Thimphu public during the celebrations at the Changlimithang grounds, the heart of every Bhutanese was won over!" said actor Kelly Dorji about His Highness Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck the Dragon King of Bhutan and his wife Jetsun Pema, whose wedding anniversary was celebrated yesterday.

His Highness Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife Queen Jetsun Pema

"His Majesty announced his engagement to Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema at the first session of Parliament. When they married in sacred Punakha Dzong it was probably the biggest celebration we have ever seen in Bhutan," he says about the couple that had visited India shortly after their wedding before they'd gone to Japan.

Kelly Dorji

As for the actor, who is an avid follower of the Art of Living propounded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and who lives in the mountains from where he runs his luxury travel company, following the success of his Kannada film ‘Power Star' with the son of late Raj Kumar, he is looking forward to his next release. "Followed by my first attempt as villain in the Telugu comic film BOB," he says.

Radio Gaga Two
We received a call from Naveen Saxena, station director Radio One about the story we'd carried yesterday.

"The Ad spots and the song Laadli, which we are playing, are part of a commercial deal with Conde Nast who are running an initiative called ‘Vogue Women's empowerment' for the month of October," he said. "For the past three years, they have been buying commercial ad spots from us and for this initiative we extended support by playing the song as we strongly believe in and support the concept of ‘Women Empowerment'. So the total commercial deal value between Radio One and Conde Nast is not more than R5 lakh with free secondages extended by us to promote the initiative in an effective manner," he said.

As for Aamir Khan, there's been no charge to him at all, says Saxena.

But it was his last sentence that truly was music to our ears. "We are an International Music station and would continue to entertain our listeners with international music," he said.

Nice!

Hipster all through
He may be currently recovering from a hip surgery but let it be known that billionaire Parsi bon vivant Cyrus Poonawalla is one up on even Bollywood superstar and hunk Hritik Roshan! How so? Well, readers will recall how we had carried a picture of Poonawalla with his arm around Paris Hilton at an international soiree a few months before the much-publicised meet this weekend between the American heiress and star of Bang Bang in Dubai at the launch of Cle Dubai.

Paris Hilton with Hritik Roshan. PIC/Hilton's Instagram account

Once a hipster, always a hipster right?

Paris Hilton with Cyrus Poonawalla

Of God and other travellers
She's been MIA at Mumbai lit circles ever since she moved to Coimbatore, so there's been a build up of considerable excitement amongst her fans when Arundhathi Subramaniam will be giving her first reading of her latest book of poems ‘When God is a Traveller', at the Kitabkhana this evening.

Arundhathi Subramaniam

True to her gentle style, the poet, even while beseeching friends to come added a sweet caveat. "Friends in South Mumbai do come. And those in the northern part of the city, if you're disinclined to make the long, insane expedition southward, I understand entirely. But do try."