(From left):Children at the CanKids photo exhibition at Ansal Plaza; models Inder Sudan, Rahul Dev and Aryan Vaid at the CIMFF bash; Fardeen Khan with fianc?e Natasha Madhwani at Enigma?s third anniversary party

Fashion for charity

The tsunami has of late attracted quite a few do-gooders from the Page 3 crowd. The recently-held Satya Paul auction and fashion show at ITC Maurya Sheraton in Delhi saw the likes of Jaya Bachchan, Amar Singh, Shweta Nanda, Konkona Sen Sharma, Milind Soman and Kapil Dev chipping in towards the aid and upliftment of tsunami victims. In association with Omaxe, the Satya Paul fundraiser is donating a part of the proceeds to the Amity Tsunami Relief Fund.

The compere of the evening, actor Boman Irani, entertained the audience with a mock ramp walk during the course of the auction. A canvas painted by artist Laila Khan Rajpal was the first to go under the hammer at Rs 1.75 lakh. This was followed by the auction of jewellery by Amrapalli. A pendant, which looked less like a pendant and more like a war shield, fetched Rs 1 lakh.

Jas Arora, Aman Varma and Milind Soman were the co-emcees for the auction. While Arora was more eye candy than anything else and Varma did his bit in sharing the limelight with Irani, the most entertaining was undoubtedly Soman who auctioned off a Nile cruise by Abercrombie & Kent. ?Some lovely female might even get to share the cruise with me,? he jested. Even as the giant screens flashed ads for the cruise, all eyes were on Irani and Soman, who were busy fooling around on stage and shaking a leg to the music.

The highlight of the evening was the launch of Satya Paul?s latest Aqua collection. Models sashayed down the ramp in clear whites, sparkling golds, murky greens and soothing blues to the sounds of the flute and saxophone of musician Raghav. The event saw Dilliwalas digging quite deep into their pockets.

Love cures

Some have lost their hair completely, others are in the process of doing so and most have masks over their mouths. These are a group of young kids, all of whom are cancer sufferers and yet the disease hasn?t succeeded in taking away their smiles. There was six-year-old Mayank and eight-year-old Ashutosh Mani, both of whom are awaiting a bone marrow transplant among others. For most of these children afflicted with cancer, treatment costs can go as high as Rs 5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. So CanKids, an NGO working with such children, organised a fundraiser through a jazz programme at the Le Meridien in Delhi.

Taking centrestage however was the photo exhibition held at Ansal Plaza. Two hundred and eighty cameras were gifted to the children by Subhadra Jindal of Jindal Photo to capture the world through their eyes. Photographer Avinash Pasricha who spent his time on the shoots with them said, ?The people you see in the photos are normal happy children who live a difficult life under the shadow of cancer. Money is the problem here and we need to make them feel that someone cares.?

A cancer survivor and president of Cankids, Poonam Bagai feels strongly for cancer patients because she emphasises that the disease is curable, though mostly in the initial stages. ?The children under our umbrella are mostly from the economically-backward sections of society. For families battling against cancer, a disease which is so emotionally exacting, monetary hassles only compound the problems. They don?t need such additional burdens, so we are organising an adoption programme,? said Bagai. To the effect, CanKids has drawn up three categories of adoption lists of 60 children.

Male order

The past few weeks in Mumbai have been raining fashion shows and the latest of these was the Castle Lager-sponsored annual men?s fashion fair. The event turned out to be one rocking party and the venue was brimming with party animals and fashion fiends. Titled Castle Indian Men?s Fashion Fair (CIMFF), the show was organised in association with choreographer-designer Prasad Bidappa and offered a sneak preview of the year?s hottest designs for men.

The line-up of designers include Rocky S, Paresh Lamba and Deepika Gelani, who presented their Spring-Summer collections to an enthusiastic response. Making their way through the gathering, a posse of male models strutted their stuff to tub-thumping music.

Starting off the evening was Rocky S. who showcased his Hell collection, which took in apparel in charcoal-grey, earthy-brown, fawn and white. Paresh Lamba?s Master Stroke collection had models showing off Indo-Westerns. There were sherwanis, kurtas and bandhgalas, all finished with ornate embroidery. Deepika Gelani on her part, focused on ethnic designs that were a burst of colours.

Choreographed by Prasad Bidappa, the talking point of the show was the finale when emcee Deepika persuaded the models to remove their shirts which produced many squeals of delight from the women in the audience. Enjoying the collections on show were models-turned-actors Aryan Vaid, Rahul Dev, Shahwar Ali and Zulfi Sayed, one of Calcutta?s favourite faces, model Shonal Rawat and designer Aki Narula.

Anniversary cheer

When Mumbai?s hottest nightclub celebrated its third anniversary, the city came to a standstill. J.W. Marriott?s discotheque Enigma opened its gates to its loyalists at 10 pm sharp for a night of glamour, fun and frolic. Starting the night on a high note was in-house deejay Aqeel who belted out the latest remixes and pop numbers.

With mixes and starters doing the rounds, the night turned heady with the svelte Anupama Verma charming one and all, performing to songs like Bhegi Bheegi Raaton Mein and Saat Samundar. Party lovers were treated to a host of performances that made the anniversary party one to remember. Three classic Latin American dance sequences by well-known ballroom dancer Sandeep Soparrkar partnered by the graceful actress Kitu Gidwani. Dressed in red, the couple performed various dance sequences ? tango, jazz and even the Cha Cha. Also setting the house on fire was a scintillating performance by a troupe of dancers flown down especially from Europe.

Dancing the night away courtesy some adrenaline-pumping music belted out by deejays Aqeel, G (Girish) and Ryan Beck, were actors Fardeen Khan with fianc?e Natasha Madhwani, Rakshanda Khan, director Ken Ghosh, model Mugdha Godse, photographer Jatin Kampani, veejays Anusha Dandekar and Sophie, Pratichee Mohapatra (of Viva fame), TV stars Tanaz Currim, Kahkashan Patel and a host of others

Photograph of CanKids event by Prem Singh