Designer dinner: (From left) Anu Ahuja, Dipika Khaitan and Anamika Khanna

Indians go from NRI to HNW

The talented Calcutta-based designer Anamika Khanna had a fashion show in London last week, raising an estimated £3,00,000 for a very good cause — providing school meals to impoverished children in India.

An estimated 400 people, among them steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and his family, attended “the Sparkle Ball”.

About 25 donors were willing to write out a cheque for £2,500 which will be enough to feed an entire school for a whole year.

It is worth noting that Indians are making the transition from NRI (non-resident Indian) status to something called HNW — high net worth.

The funds are going to the Akshaya Patra Foundation which “provides freshly prepared, nutritious meals daily to over 1.3 million underprivileged children in over 8,000 schools in nine states from 19 kitchens”.

“This is the first time I have displayed my collections in London for a charity which is very close to my heart,” said Anamika. “The East-West fusion in silhouettes is a trend which I like a lot at all times. This trend has also become more acceptable in the West now.”

The fashion show and dinner and dance were held under the carefully restored Victorian Arches of the Great Room at Vinopolis which has exposed brickwork (just like we did in Patna but that was because cement was a restricted luxury item).

The untrained eye could only detect well-heeled Indian men, accompanied by beautiful women dressed to kill. But a journalist friend, Tilusha Vyas, who is knowledgeable about cut and design and such like, assures me: “Anamika used her own special textured materials, silks, chiffons and organzas to create saris mostly in ivory, silver and black which could be draped like a dress and can also worn with dhoti pants. This classic luxury 2013 collection also included a few bright orange red outfits which were also versatile so that one can also dress up or down according to one’s choice.”

Abhishek Khaitan, trustee for the Akshaya Patra Foundation, said: “A donation of £10 will feed a child for one whole year... we want to feed another 25,000 children.”

The foundation’s UK president, Dipika Khaitan, added: “The UK chapter has so far raised funds to provide meals in approximately 250 schools which is 75,000 children.”

There are those who argue: “Wouldn’t it be better if instead of paying for an expensive dinner all the money went to charity?”

In theory, yes, except that without the glamour and the celebrity stars to “grace the occasion”, few would come and even fewer take out their cheque books. London life is like that only.

Girl cause: Manish Malhotra show in London

Manish’s girls

Indians clearly cannot have enough of fashion shows. Anamika Khanna’s was preceded by another equally well attended one held by Manish Malhotra at the Indian-owned Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane in London.

This was to raise money for another equally deserving cause — the Angeli Foundation “to raise awareness and support for the charity whose primary focus is to Save the Girl Child”.

Charity circuit

Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Waheeda Rehman have been doing the rounds in London. After helping the Tata Medical Centre (sometimes curiously spelt Center) in Calcutta, they attended the Anamika Khanna fashion extravaganza.

Shabana also spoke to students at SOAS (School of Oriental Studies) where the National Indian Students’ Union conferred honorary fellowships on Shabana and Javed.

Shabana, who spoke about the body as a sensual object, warned the audience to be aware of lyrics, songs and gestures. Heroines also need to be careful in choosing what they do, but the point is “to make an informed choice”, she said.

At Anamika Khanna’s show, Javed revealed: “I wrote the anthem for Akshaya Patra. It is great to see Indian people that have been away from their native country for so many years still connected to India and bothered about under privileged children.”

Assignment: Paul briefing Indian journalists

Empty chair

India is so short of diplomats, especially experienced ones, that important posts are often left vacant for months on end. Happily, this has not happened with the post of deputy high commissioner in London, following the departure of Rajesh Prasad at the end of last year.

Virander Paul, who established good contacts both with American and Indian journalists in Washington as minister (press), has arrived in London to be deputy to the high commissioner, Jaimini Bhagwati.

As director in the Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi from 2007 to 2010, Virander worked closely with the national security adviser M.K. Narayanan, especially when tackling the aftermath of the Mumbai massacre in November 2008. He probably feels sorry for Narayanan who now has the even more difficult job of being Governor of a state where policemen get fired for doing their job.

Virander, who is by training a doctor, as is wife, Rachel — both studied at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi — has served in Almaty, St Petersburg, Moscow and Vladivostok (where he apparently mastered the sign language commonly used by Russians over-dependent on vodka — of course in the course of his duties).

The job of minister (press) is often a stepping stone to bigger things. The position has been occupied by, among others, Navtej Sarna, external affairs spokesman; Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, high commissioner in London; and Nirupama Rao, foreign secretary and currently ambassador in Washington and likely to get an extension.

Meanwhile, Virander’s predecessor in London, Rajesh Prasad, who is still said to be cooling his heels in Delhi, should have taken over ages ago from Chitra Narayanan as ambassador in Switzerland following her retirement from the diplomatic service. To be sure, she has not been well. But her colleagues are filled with admiration at her ability to get extension after extension and continue to live off the poor Indian taxpayer in the style to which the daughter of former president K.R. Narayanan has clearly become accustomed.

So sweet: Packs from Sainsbury’s

Super market

First mango lassi — and now this. From our local Sainsbury’s, I rang my wife with breathless excitement and revealed the supermarket was now stocking gulabjamun, rasmalai and gajar ka halwa.

No doubt this is to help Indians adopt a healthier lifestyle.

I took home a packet each of Gulabjam and Gajar Halwa — purely for research purposes, you understand.

It strikes me that if, say, the Mishti Bhandar in Belgachia were to open a branch in London in a Bengali para such as Belsize Park, it would recover its investment in no time at all.

Tittle tattle

Ahead of the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3, 2014, the Queen’s baton relay gets under way from India tomorrow.

The question remains as to which Indian Olympic committee will be invited to Scotland since India has been kicked out — quite rightly in the opinion of many — from the international Olympic movement in Switzerland for holding dodgy elections.

Perhaps there is time yet to solve the little local difficulty in India while the Queen’s baton travels through some 54 Commonwealth member states. In 2008, the baton relay was started in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace jointly by the Queen and Pratibha Patil.