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Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Sleeper Hit

Hindustan Times | ByMalavika Sangghvi
Aug 01, 2019 08:46 AM IST

India lover Ariana Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, who set up the initiative Thrive Global to raise awareness about personal well-being, is all set to launch her first Thrive Global Leadership summit in Mumbai next month.

India lover Ariana Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, who set up the initiative Thrive Global to raise awareness about personal well-being, is all set to launch her first Thrive Global Leadership summit in Mumbai next month. Huffington, who’d had a breakdown in 2007, explained that the initiative stemmed from her own personal experiences, “After my collapse from sleep deprivation and exhaustion in 2007, I became more passionate about the connection between well-being and performance. And as I went around the world, speaking about my experience, I saw two things. First, we’re facing a stress and burnout epidemic. And second, people deeply want to change the way they work and live.” The summit is said to be divided into four panels – ‘Body, Mind, Heart and Soul’ – with an aim to equip one on how to become the best version of oneself by prioritising well-being. And unlike the usual suspects, we are informed that speakers will include the likes of industrialists Harsh Mariwala, Ajay Piramal, Anant Maheshwari of Microsoft and life coaches Gaur Gopal Das and Luke Coutinho.

TRUE LIES

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Of performing and non-performing assets

Our Oolong Tea Serving Hostess Friend (OTSHF) was looking particularly indignant when on her insistence we’d dropped in to her apartment over the weekend.

“Darling, it’s ridiculous! Just not done!” she was saying on the phone to someone, but hung up when she saw us and instructed, ‘Boy’ – her old faithful bearer who had until then been gently massaging her temples with eau de cologne – to leave the room.

What’s ridiculous, we enquired. The OTSHF has many peeves and it was best to address them right away.

“The rates, darling! Unheard of! They might as well employ me!”

Huh, we said, slow down, you’re making no sense

Peering at the door to check if ‘Boy’ was beyond earshot, the OTSHF said, “It’s all the fault of the nationalised banks and their NPAs! I was reading an article about it in the Economist just yesterday.”

Apparently, what had riled our OTSHF was the interview she’d conducted with a cook she was hoping to recruit for her household.

Sent to her by a friend, he’d come with all the required qualifications that would get him a job in a posh household like the OTSHF’s, but the price he’d quoted had sent our friend in to an apoplectic fit.

“He asked for a lakh and a half per month,” she gasped, her eyes popping, “Can you believe it?”

Gosh, we said, that’s certainly steep, but what’s that got to do with the banks and NPAs…?

“Don’t you see? It’s a the fault of highflyers like the Mallyas, Modis, etc, who borrowed huge sums from nationalised banks, spent it on their lavish lifestyles, thought nothing of paying their domestic staff astronomical salaries with it (and now that they can’t do so any more), have spoiled it for all of us! Ask any one in the city, it’s full of unemployed cooks, nannies, chauffeurs and bearers asking for ridiculous salaries, now that their employers have all run abroad, and no one can afford them anymore!”

You’re right, we said. That is a serious problem, but what’s that about the Economist carrying an article about it..?

“Never mind, darling. It would go over your head, only something those of us who understand these things would appreciate” she sniffed .

And then she trilled: “Boy, chai ke liye zara hot water lao,” and her faithful, long-performing asset, the one who she’d terrorised in to near penury, entered the room and resumed his duties.

WTSWTM

What They Say

“He wanted me to shoot for 410 days. For someone like me, to get painted all over the body was something I could not do. So, I apologised. But like I said, the film went on to become a super hit.”

-Bollywood star Govinda on why he turned down James Cameron’s Avatar.

What They Mean

“Actually, that‘s a lie. The real reason I refused the movie was because I had just been offered the title role in the Iron Man franchise by Jon Favreau. Of course, later I turned him down too.”

Reason To Cheer

Actor Armaan Jain got engaged to his long-time girlfriend friend Anissa Malhotra on Tuesday evening.

After a challenging period in the Kapoor household that saw members of Bollywood’s first family battling illnesses, word comes in that there was reason for cheer this week. Actor Armaan Jain, son of Raj Kapoor’s younger daughter Rima and businessman-husband Manoj Jain, got engaged to his long-time girlfriend friend Anissa Malhotra on Tuesday evening. As is known, Jain had been launched five years ago in the film ‘Lekar Hum Dewaana Dil’, produced by his brother-in-law Saif Ali Khan, and had later gone on to manage his father’s businesses. We are informed the proposal took place on the terrace of Jain’s stately office headquarters at Horniman Circle, overlooking the iconic Asiatic Library and BSE buildings. “The ambience was lovely and the venue had been festooned with flowers and a romantic pathway where he went down on his knee and proposed,” said Rima, when we spoke to her yesterday. “It had begun to drizzle, but God is kind and just at the time of the proposal, to every one’s relief, the rain stopped and it was perfect,” said the doting mum, adding, “Anissa’s parents and her grandmother and Armaan’s grandparents, Manoj and I, along with the couple’s close friends came home for dinner to celebrate.” And we’re informed that in true Kapoor style, the evening concluded with a boisterous party at the Jain home at Altamount Road, replete with a table groaning with the household’s famous dishes (junglee mutton and paya curry) and exuberant dholkis, who had every one on the floor with their cheerful percussion. Those spotted doing justice to the riveting beats included Armaan’s cousin Karisma Kapoor, his younger brother Aadar Jain, Kiara Advani, Athiya Shetty and Tara Sutaria.

We wish the couple well.

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