It was an elegant sit-down dinner, planned to the last detail, at a smart restaurant in town. But no matter how meticulously you design the menu and choose the starters and wines, at the end you’re at the mercy of your guests. True, it had rained earlier that evening, truer still that my wife and I weren’t as punctual as our hostess might have wanted, but many others were much, much later. And it wasn’t just a Delhi thing, for those who came in last were prominent Bollywood celebrities. (more…)

04 July 2006 - 12.20 pm

Just managed to reach office. Typical of Mumbaites I felt guilty staying at home second day on the trot and ventured out. My Thane- Mumbai commute normally takes one hour ten minutes maximum - today it was two hours. But the wrist watch cannot explain the anguish. (more…)

A young university catering to the energy sector finds employers eager to take its graduates.

“Ninety per cent plus,” says a beaming Dr Parag Diwan, as he talks about the ongoing placements of the 165 students graduating from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) this year, the second batch to do so since its inception. (more…)

Now that our son is all set to go to college — preferably away from Delhi, he says — his mother is worried that he might get hijacked by the high-lifewallahs. But that’s because she hasn’t spent too much time checking out his friends. There is a sprinkling of high-fliers, true, some even with political clout, and he’s partial to his brands, but the company he keeps is far from the jet set. (more…)