LOVE STORY: Divia Lalvani & Joel Cadbury

Cooking up the perfect wedding

One hundred per cent ? NOT,” insists the vivacious Divia Lalvani, when I asked her whether her marriage next spring to Joel Cadbury, a member of the famous chocolate dynasty, will be one of the society weddings of the year.

In my mind’s eye, I could foresee a 20-page spread in Hello! magazine.

Divia wants to cut down on her desi relatives, without offending anyone.

“It will be a small ceremony for family and close friends,” adds Divia, 29, whose father, Gulu Lalvani, founder of the Binatone electronics group, briefly attracted tabloid attention when he was photographed escorting Princess Diana to Annabel’s nightclub and to Harry’s Bar.

Gulu, 66, said to be worth ?400 million, is ranked 101st on the Sunday Times Rich List. His brother, Kartar, also a wealthy businessman, is a former Asian of the Year.

Divia intends carrying on with her current project, which is to help her father develop the Royal Phukhet Marina. At his behest, the Indonesian government “has cut import tax on yachts from 220 per cent to zero per cent”. The marina, set in 350 hectares, will have condominiums, 60 hotels, several restaurants and perhaps rival the south of France. Fuel will be 70 per cent cheaper than in the West. Divia’s own speciality is developing oriental cuisine ? she “grew up with chopsticks” and used to have a share in Zuma, a Japanese restaurant in London.

She was born in London, went to college in the US and had an exotic upbringing. Her father was married to her mother, Vimla Lalvani, an Indian who comes from Hawaii. This is “the most beautiful island in the world”, according to Divia who still spends part of the year in this paradise. Vimla has made a name for herself through her yoga exercise videos. “She has done 10 of them but now she only lectures,” says her daughter.

Divia’s 34-year-old fianc?, Joel, is the son of Peter Cadbury (who has been married thrice, one more than Divia’s dad). Joel is in the hospitality business and owns the Groucho Club, the Soho watering hole for actors and writers. He proposed to Divia at his romantic holiday home in the south of France.

“He is quintessentially English, very private,” says Divia. His new relatives will explain to the poor fellow that the word “private” doesn’t exist in the Indian lexicon.

As Joel, the jamai babu, he had better get used to intimate dinners for 50. But he won’t ever be lonely again.

BACK TO BOLLYWOOD: Gayatri Iyer

Swan song

Lord Tennyson put it so much better (St Xavier’s, Patna, branded Morte d’Arthur into our souls):

The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

After what will have been eight wonderful months in London, Gayatri Iyer is to step down on September 23 as Princess Anjuli, the female lead in The Far Pavilions. She will be replaced by a British Asian actress, Karen David.

It was Gayatri’s very progressive husband, Kunal Ganjawala, who encouraged his 24-year-old wife to accept the London job. Michael Ward, the musical’s producer, once paid Kunal a great compliment by pointing out: “Not too many men would like to see their wife make love to another man on stage every night. But he said, ‘I want to see my wife fly.’ ”

After London, where she visited museums, art galleries and theatres to her heart’s content and found time to read, she fears she is returning to the cultural desert known as Mumbai. But when she goes back to Bollywood, from whence she was plucked for the West End, she hopes she will not only be a playback singer but also an actress.

Gayatri feels she has grown in London. One difference she has found is that in London, “people don’t have egos,” she told me. “In India you do have to deal with egos.”

FAST CAR: Adam Khan

Race riot

What I know about motor racing wouldn’t fill the back of a postage stamp but I can now say that television does not convey the throaty roar of the machines and the speed with which they vanish out of sight. Having spent a day at Silverstone, my money is on Master Adam Khan, 20, a British boy picked up by the Pakistan team.

The inaugural race in the A1 series, in what has been dubbed the World Cup of motor racing ? 25 countries, including India, are competing ? takes place at Brand’s Hatch, Kent, on September 25.

The races, dreamt up by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher al-Maktoum of Dubai, then move on to other countries ? Germany, Portugal, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore, South Africa, Mexico, the US and China. Everyone has the same car, known as the Lola, so this will be a contest of driving skills. Each country is allowed two drivers.

In India, the Lola has already been unveiled by Anil Kapoor. The Pakistani businessman, Arif Husain, who is funding his country’s team, was present and thrilled by the Bollywood hospitality. Adam, who has just finished his first year reading business studies at King’s College, London, says he may have to take a year out to concentrate on his driving.

On the day I saw him practise at Silverstone, his fastest time for a lap was 48.5 seconds, only 0.4 seconds behind the fastest recorded on the day. And Adam is up against experienced Formula 1 drivers.

Adam, a very polite and personable young man, obviously has a gift. He has been driving racing cars for over three years but when he travels from home to the track, his father has to take him.

“I can only drive racing cars on the track,” he reveals. “For outside I don’t yet have a normal driver’s licence.”

I tried to take a picture of Adam on the track. Every time I pointed the camera at where I thought his car was, it was gone. His top speed, he told me later, was 170 mph ? 140 mph more than the speed limit on normal roads.

CHANGING TIMES: The new stamp to be issued in Britain

The right stamp

In the wake of the London bombs, politicians are urging Muslims and other immigrants to be more British. But a new set of stamps, which is being issued on August 23, reflects the changing nature of multicultural Britain and the wide variety of foods now available in the UK. One stamp shows an Indian woman in a sari having a cup of tea.

Tittle tattle

Tickets for the next “Ashes” Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, starting on Thursday, August 25, have been sold out. So perhaps this is the time to sing the praises of one Nathuram (Nat) Puri, a well known Nottingham businessman whose industrial group, Melton Medes, has been renamed Purico.

Puri owns a hospitality box at Trent Bridge to which he can invite those of his friends he wishes to have around him. He is currently in India. “But he will be back for the Test,” I am assured by one of his staff.

The man has obviously got his priorities right.