Liz: Bahu?

Mumbai, March 25: When an Indian boy brings a girl home to meet the parents what does it mean?

Marriage is in the air.

But Arun Nayar is no ordinary Indian, nor exactly a boy — he’s been there and done it, marry that is. And she no ordinary girl.

Famous-for-being-famous Liz Hurley breezed in and out of the city, accessorised by the latest man in her life. So breezy was the visit that it’s difficult to divine a reason other than a dekko of the prospective in-laws.

Nayar had, in fact, said earlier that he was going to take Hurley home in Mumbai.

The supermodel-turned-Hollywood-enchantress-turned-heartbroken single mum, who —with her men — keeps British tabloids busy, was spotted having lunch at India Jones, a restaurant at the Oberoi, with Nayar.

According to a fly on the wall, Hurley looked divine in a long white skirt with fuchsia flowers and a simple white top and no, the dress was not held together by only safety pins. Just to jiggle your memory, picture of her clinging to then boyfriend Hugh Grant’s arm and a backless and nearly everything less clinging to her lithe body, courtesy the frumpy safety pin, was one reason she became famous.

Anyway, her lunch was pomello salad and a range of dim sums, but she focused on the tall, dark and handsome Nayar, who has a bad record with women.

Nayar, who studied in Cathedral school in Mumbai, is separated from his wife, Italian model Valentina Pedroni. Pedroni lives in Milan, while Nayar goes jet-setting around the world. But there seems to be some hitch in getting the divorce, in which case the Hurley-Nayar wedding bells, if at all, can’t toll yet.

The couple ran away after being sighted — Nayar actually hobbled because he was using walking sticks for both legs. They were accompanied by a woman friend.

Hurley, who made a splash when she appeared with Nayar at the Christian Dior fashion show in Paris in January, took a flight back home early this morning, eluding the paparazzi who had parked themselves in front of the house off Marine Drive where the couple was suspected to be staying.

She left behind Nayar, who will be here for three more weeks, and a lot of work for the rumour mill. Does it mean that a mangalsutra may adorn that delicate white neck that has enhanced so many Estee Lauder products? Has Liz, who had an epic affair with Grant followed by a short and bitter one with billionaire Steve Bing, who first denied the paternity of the child Hurley claimed to be his, finally found love?

The grapevine is not so sure. His parents are non-committal. Nayar senior has dismissed his son’s association with the actress as a part of his happening social life. His German mother, too, has not acknowledged the affair too seriously in public. But that was until yesterday.