Update from Mumbai

Prakash updated me with news from Mumbai. Maybe we can have correspondents from each centre, like Prakash, who will update us regularly from their bases. Any volunteers?

Dear Jacob,

Last evening saw many art lovers entering the grand Ruia House on Mount Pleasant Road, for a viewing of Amrita Shergil :ICON.

(Jacob: Ruia House was very much a favourite place of us 59ers. We had two Ruia's as classmates - Ashok who became famous for his bridge, golf and badminton, and cousin Anil who made his name in Indian Industry as a top notch Managing Director of many of the Ruia Enterprise companies. I used to go and play billiards on the billiard table they had at Ruia House. Also, it was Ashok who taught me the essentials of bridge, a game I thoroughly enjpoyed, not competitive, but for relaxation.)

One painting was up for sale at an astronomical figure of Thirty Five Lakhs. Very surprising that even after so many years Amrita Shergil continues to mystify and attract art lovers and the aura of her unconventional life she shared with Victor Egan, continues to fascinate us all to even to this day.

One could admire her Animal Sketches in pencil uniquely framed one on either side and with a wooden stand, her Palette, pieces of jewellery and pages from her diary that gave us an insight into her mind ?

The exhibition is open for all till the 20th of April, 2004.

Amrita Shergil, if she lived in these modern days, would have fit in perfectly, especially since the recent scandal of Laxmi Pandit Miss India (World) who handed in her crown on allegations she was married and living with Model Siddharth Mishra in a rented apartment in Malad.

The Wine being served was courtesy Karan Grover of Grover Wines and the event was organised by Mortimer Chatterjee & Tara Lal.

Mumbai most famous and well-known restaurant, INDIGO, celebrated its 5th Anniversary this Sunday 4th April, with a well attended brunch, in spite of its founder, Rahul Akerkar, limping after undergoing some knee surgery earlier last week.

A South Indian Festival was celebrated this Sunday (Palm Sunday) where devotees pierced their cheeks with huge iron rods walking uphill from a Temple in Malad. Other devotees had iron hooks pierced into the backs and they were pulling carts with deities . The devotees were of all ages from youngsters to the elderly. No one seemed in pain and if they were they bore it stoically and without any expression of suffering. It was a very moving sight to see them walking barefoot on the hot tarred road under the blazing sun.

Cheers

More news later.

Regards

Prakash Thadani

Thanks for the update Prakash.