Bringing cars to Milan could be akin to carrying rosogollas to Calcutta, but that hasn?t slowed the Mahindras in their tracks. Dimensione Asia got off to a zippy start on Saturday night, with the Italy launch of Goa, the international name for Scorpio.

The trade exhibition, part of the Asia Week festivities in the city, was unveiled with a bash thrown by Anand Mahindra. The bright blue multi-utility vehicle stood at the front of the exhibition space, which is otherwise packed with stalls from India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.

The car managed to generate some amount of excitement, enough to bring in Roberto Piatti, one of Italy?s best-known car designers, who had a long chat with the managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). It was launched internationally some time ago and the Bolero has been selling decent numbers in Europe, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Argentina. Now, the makers have healthy hopes for Italy as well.

?We did a lot of research before choosing the name for the vehicle. Goa and Italy have a lot in common in terms of culture ? food, beaches, churches and ambience,? said executive director and president Alan Durant.

The M&M wheels just keep on turning. With good response (around 150 sales so far) in west Europe for the Bolero and with the Goa being unveiled a couple of days ago at the Paris auto show, the company is also planning on heading eastwards towards Croatia with both vehicles. Doha was covered five days ago, Dubai is coming up in early October and South Africa is the next major stop, with a joint venture company being started there.

?All the global car majors are in India, but we still have a waiting list of two to three weeks. We love the competition,? smiled Durant. With a target of exporting 15 per cent of production, the M&M show is sure to roll on.

Bengal touch

The cultural showcase rolled on as well on Saturday evening, courtesy a Bengali woman from Paris. Rukmini Chatterjee brought a ?meeting of bharatanatyam, kathak and flamenco? to the stage. The bharatanatyam dancer was accompanied by an American jazz saxophonist (also based in Paris), a guitarist from Paris and a flamenco dancer from Spain.

The international touch is not surprising, given Rukmini?s background. The Bengali woman grew up in Ahmedabad (her father was one of the founders of Amul), followed her heart to Paris some 14 years ago, performs across the world, speaks six languages and considers Scandinavia her spiritual home. ?I have always been confronted by different cultures,? she explained after the performance. The 34-year-old who started her training at Darpana under Mrinalini Sarabhai is taking the show to the Oslo World Music Festival in November.

Globalised Hinduism

A dinner out with such an eclectic ensemble could hardly be predictable. It didn?t disappoint.

La Guignette was the venue for just the kind of cultural confrontation Rukmini was speaking of. Indians aside, the table played host to a half-American girl, another originally from Poland, a Parisian and, of course, a few Italians.

Representing Milan was none other than an accessories designer with Prada and Armani. Stephano Rosso started 15 years ago with Versace and Calvin Klein. Now, he designs glasses for Prada and jewellery for Armani. Though most designers would give their eye-teeth for that kind of portfolio, Stephano (the only one in the group who had enough clout at the restaurant to get a table on a packed Saturday night) has started his own label as well for a creative outlet.

Talk, understandably at that late hour with the wine and limoncello flowing, strayed to spirituality.

When the subject of globalised Hinduism came up, a few rather negative comments about the Osho brand of communicating with the almighty didn?t sit very well with some at the table.

It turned out that Marchello, a perfectly Italian man from Sicily (whose only real connection with India seemed to be a first girlfriend whose name has since been forgotten) has been an Osho sanyasi for the past 10 years. While some followers might be milking a convenient cash cow, many, he pointed out, are genuine.

?Everyone thinks Sicilians are all Mafioso. Some are. That doesn?t mean the whole island is,? he illustrated.

Who would have guessed?