You are in queue

News from the sidelines of the Jaitley wedding: apparently, as does often happen at these affairs, there was a long queue of guests lined up to greet the couple. Politicians, film stars, major industrialists, all queued up without fuss to get their chance to wish them.

The last time such an august list had been observed in a queue had been when the likes of Cyrus Mistry, Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal had queued up to greet the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Mukesh Ambani

"Such was the caliber of invitees that even Mukesh Ambani was spotted standing patiently in the queue," said a source. "Someone from the hosts' side saw this and tried to persuade India's richest man to jump the queue," said the source. "But such is the regard the industrialist had for the occasion, that he refused, and waited patiently in line for his turn"

Seth and His Holiness the Satvic Noodler
"We had first locked horns on a TV debate where angry words were exchanged." It was Suhel Seth, the bouncing bon vivant, and one of Delhi's cleverest men telling us about his recent encounter with Baba Ramdev, he of the instant but satvic noodle empire ambitions.

Baba Ramdev and Suhel Seth

"Then we met again randomly on a flight and rather than carry on our argument, Ramdev said, "Let's agree to disagree. Chalo let me instead teach you some stomach toning exercises for the rest of the flight," and after that we've been friends," said Seth, who we were speaking to, fresh after his outing at the big Jaitley wedding, where he'd met His Orange Highness amongst many other leading lights.

"It was one of the most elegant, warm and personal weddings ever hosted in Delhi," said Seth who because of his proximity to the bride's father (Fin Min Arun Jaitley), donned a ‘saafaa' and was seen looking after guests.

"The President, the PM, every major politician, film star, businessman arrived without fuss and conducted themselves with grace and dignity," said Seth, adding "I said to Arun afterwards that the occasion really brought out his innate decency - there were people there across party lines!"

Objects of desire
Roger Federer's autographed Wilson tennis racquet, a Tiger Woods signed golf ball, a collage of autographed pictures of every actor who's played Bond to date.

The good people behind online auction house Astaguru appear to have hit the jackpot. These and other drool-worthy celebrity memorabilia are being put on sale later this month. "As the second largest auction house in the country, it is important for us to diversify into other product categories," explained Astaguru's Tushar Sethi.

The signed picture by actors who have played Bond so far

"International auction houses such as Sotheby's and Bonham's generally do an auction everyday, of different products in different locations. Next year we plan to do an individual auction of jewellery, watches and pens, antiques and furniture, and one more of collectibles," he said.

Roger Federer's racquet and (left) a ball signed by Tiger Woods

Never having bought any thing online so far, leave alone at an auction, we too have been fired by this particular one. And is it the autographed guitar of Slash of Guns N' Roses, or the rare handcrafted pieces of jewellery from the royal estates of North India that have whetted our appetite? Non-monsieur, it's an object of desire much closer to home that we covet. Now, for a crash course in online bidding...

Anchors away with belly dancer on board!
The news about the purchase of a London apartment and a yacht for the daughter of this prominent business family has already been received and commented on.

And whereas there has been enough clucking disapproval, when this was juxtaposed with the staggering amounts of money owed to various banks, even the most critical had to concede, that as far as women's equality went, it was a progressive step and a far cry from the misogyny of other business clans.

But there's no getting away from the inappropriateness of the timing, given the group's balance sheets. And more baffling is the fact, that this politically incorrect conspicuous consumption, includes a round the year multi-cuisine chef on board the yacht and ( we kid thee not) a round the clock belly dancer instructress on board too. This is stratospherically mind boggling-er..or make that... jiggling...

Gaggan on your TV screen
We have watched the rise and rise of Gaggan Anand, a humble, God fearing Calcutta boy who followed his dream, opened an Indian restaurant in Bangkok, somewhere in the middle trained under Ferran Adria of El Bulli in Spain, and captured the titles of Asia's No.1 Chef and the world's No.10 restaurant according to the well respected San Pellegrino list.

Matt Preston and Gaggan Anand

Now, word comes in, that the rockstar chef who has been sporting a neat man bun recently, will soon be on TV. Gaggan has accepted an offer from Masterchef Asia (the Asian franchise of the popular TV series), to be part of the season finale as the guest judge. The episode we hear was shot in Singapore and will be telecast there today.

And sticking with Gaggan's plans we hear his goal of opening up an outlet serving his famous ‘progressive Indian cuisine' in Mumbai has been delayed, but is still very much alive and he has already recruited chef Garima Arora from the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, that many consider the ‘gastronomic Mecca' to head the new operation. Nice!