Model behaviour

Former model Geetanjali Nagpal is back in the news. Nagpal, who was in a hospital for nearly two months after she was found in a state of neglect on the streets of Delhi, has just been discharged. And we hear that the Delhi Commission for Women has planned a grand re-launch for Nagpal, who is going to spend the next few months in a girls’ hostel in Haryana. The launch is slated to be held on Women’s Day next year. Designers Vijay Kohli and Sameer Walia have already sounded the commission about their desire to see Nagpal on the ramp. If all goes well, she will be back making headlines — of the right kind.

Climate climax

The global warming debate, if you’d pardon the pun, is heating up. And India, a new book warns, is going to be among those seriously affected by climate change. This week saw the launch in Calcutta of a book named Global Warning: The Last Chance for Change by former Guardian environment journalist Paul Brown. Brown says that the current climate change research “is like a warning to the Indian government that they can’t sit on the sidelines any longer.” India, he rues, has been reluctant to take concrete action on the global warming front. “To put it quite simply,” warns Brown in the book that was launched at the British Council, “India will suffer badly if the current level of environmental degradation continues unchecked.” Valuable words from a man who has carried the environmental message to over 50 countries. But will South Block take note?

Mick and music

Mick ‘Rolling Stones’ Jagger was in Jodhpur last week for a cultural festival. And being a true musician, he sat through a performance by the Indian band, Indian Ocean, at the city fort one evening. The band members couldn’t quite believe their ears when they heard who was in the august audience. Jagger didn’t interact with the band, but Indian Ocean is happy to have performed for a rocker whose music they grew up on. And now the band is moving on. They have a series of concerts lined up — in the United States, Canada, Japan and, for the first time, in China. Who do they woo after Sir Mick? Or do we mean Hu?

Pant, pant

Watch Jiah Khan slip into a pair of jeans. What’s new about that? Well, it’s true that we’ve all seen the leggy actress prance around in a pair of fashionably tattered denims in her debut film Nishabd, in which she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan. But this time she’s in a pair of Wrangler’s, and not for any role but to endorse the internatio- nal denim brand. Many see her status as an ambassador for a top brand as a stamp of her popularity as a celebrity in the Mumbai film industry. This is also amply reflected in the kind of offers coming her way. She is slated to share screen space with actor Aamir Khan in a film by A.R. Murugadoss. Not bad, for a virtual newcomer! Maybe it’s in the jeans.

Petty about Petula

Lou Majaw is used to frenzied crowds swaying to Bob Dylan with him. But the singer from Shillong — a familiar face and voice in Calcutta — had quite a different experience at a concert in Delhi recently. The crowd at the India International Centre enjoyed his music, but midway through the concert started making their way back home — or perhaps to the bar for a sundowner. Majaw did all that he could do to keep his audience together. Much to the amazement of his band members, he even sang a golden oldie, Petula Clark’s This is my song, to enthuse the crowd. For the IIC regular, though, even Clark, a hit singer of the fifties and the sixties, was a bit too modern. Is that why Majaw — who is 60, going on 16 — went on to sing the old Dylan favourite Forever Young?