Scene& Heard

Marcellus Baptista

Listen To the Art Beat

Realising that art is a valuable asset, Citibank's Citigold Wealth Management has tied up with Apparao Galleries, the country's foremost art consultancy, in starting a premium art advisory service. It kicked off with Ruminations, an exhibition of works on paper by 25 leading artists of India. The cocktail celebration at the Rendezvous of the Taj attracted art lovers and buyers like Payal Khandwala, Chetan Gokal and Abhay Soi. Says Sharan Apparao of Apparao Galleries, "Ruminations is a collection of works on paper by artists who form the backbone of the contemporary art movement in India. This collection of works gives one an overview of influences and ideas that developed to form what became contemporary Indian art. Since more and more new artists are moving away from the tradition of drawing, of putting pen to paper, Ruminations appreciates what was the beginning of post-modern Indian art. One comes to realise the importance of all the ideas that artists ruminated on." On view were works by K H Ara, Anjolie Ela Menon, M F Husain, Jehangir Sabavala, Sakti Burman among many others.

Time To Disco

Reinvention as well as enhancement is the name of the game as far as eateries and bars are concerned. Caliente, the Spanish restaurant in town, celebrated its first anniversary with the launch of eleven30, a new retro pub. It works like this: at 11.30 pm Caliente metamorphosizes into a funky, refreshing yet unpretentious bar with all the catchy tunes of the good old days. Post 11.30 pm, the bar and lounge serves a selection of spirits, wines and cocktails at scaled down prices. Also on offer is a range of authentic Spanish tapas. Seems like a good idea to catch the late crowd, the post-dinner people who are wondering where to go to shake a leg or just listen to some good music. A pine wood bar and an all-new walnut dance floor makes for an ideal swinging session. On the night of the dual celebration, the first birthday and the retro pub launch, you saw party people like Poonam Soni, Lillete Dubey, Gary Lawyer, Nina Manuel, Divya Palat, Aditya Hitkari, Dino Martelli, Lubna Adam, Bhairavi Goswami, Suman Ranganathan, Mehnaz, Arjun Khanna, Ishita Arun and party perennial Kishin Mulchandani.

Drive Into The Night

It was a formal jazz and wine evening to celebrate the arrival of the new face-lifted Mercedes Benz C-Class and the all-powerful E270 CD, hosted by Sanghi Motorcar Co There was all that jazz and some swing from George and the Soft Rock Revolution at the Regal Room of Hilton Towers. And there was not just fine wines but also premium spirits like Chivas Regal. It was all very elegant and exquisite as hosts Ashwin and Vaibhav Sanghi greeted each and every guest and beamed before the sleek cars. Everyone agreed that the new face-lifted C-Class exhibits style, dynamism and elegance with its upgradation in terms of technology, equipment and design. Patangrao Kadam, Minister of Industries, Trade and Commerce unveiled the car. Joining in the celebrations were HDFC head Deepak Parikh, glamour girl Suchitra Pillai, fashion designers Pria Kataria Puri, Shaina NC and Narendra Kumar Ahmed, chocolate lady Zeba Kohli, yesteryear's hot filmstar Bindu. And a word on Sanghi Motorcar Co. Part of the M.K. Sanghi group, the oldest and most reputed distributors of automobiles since 1920, Daimler Chrysler among the Mercedes Benz dealers in India recently adjudged it the best performers.