(From top) Designer Leena Tarneja, actress Swastika Mukherjee, danseuse Tanusree Shankar and model Ishika at the launch of a new line at Leenaz; DJ Aqeel calling all party animals at Tantra; model Pooja offers a platter of fruit-flavoured confectioneries at the New Alipore outlet of Cakes. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

She started 10 years ago, at a time when Calcutta had only a handful of designers. Having shut shop in between, designer Leena Tarneja is back once again, this time with a store and a label of her own that she calls Leenaz.

The store at Gariahat behind Muralidhar Girls college was the shopping destination for the likes of Swastika Mukherjee, Tanusree Shankar, Nilanjana Chakraborty and others on Thursday when Leena launched her new line.

Dabbling in a range of Indian and fusion outfits, Leena has got her creative quotient right in this line with a mix of salwar suits on one hand and partywear skirts, kurtis, kaftans and ponchos on the other.

“My style is bright and flashy, especially in case of partywear, since people like to dress colourful nowadays,” says Leena who embellishes her creations heavily with stones, sequins and gota.

Prices start at Rs 800 to cater to the party animal who needs a new outfit every other weekend. “The party brigade in the city is growing and the hard core party animal needs a large wardrobe which has to be stylish yet pocket friendly,” she states.

Heavily embellished belts that come along with kaftans, ponchos and kurtis, add to the glamour. “One can use the belt later with other casual outfits as well,” advises the designer.

Though bright colours are the demand of the hour, Leena’s personal favourites remain the classic black and white. Her fabrics of choice are pure cotton, georgette and loads of lace and crochet.

Remix roster

DJ Aqeel rocked Tantra yet again. After some serious Submerge affair at BED on Friday evening, night raiders who swear by their Kunal Ganjawalas and Sunidhi Chauhans, turned up in hordes at the Park Street disco on Saturday to hear the Mumbai DJ churn up some unadulterated fun.

The DJ took to the console after midnight. But the remix ruler, who has the reputation of making people dance with two left feet, took a good half-an-hour to get the crowd charged as the twinkle-toed and fancy-footed stayed away from the dance floor. “React Calcutta. You can’t be tired even before you have started,” called out the DJ. “Blame it on the heat,” retorted somebody from the crowd.

The temperatures, however, started to soar higher as the dance floor filled up with the DJ’s magic slowly sinking in. Aqeel’s repertoire included tracks like Dekh le, Dhoom, Bin tere sanam and more.

Fruity flavour

It’s time for some cool light bites at all Cakes outlets across the city as the confectionery chain gears up for a range of delicious summer seasonals, both sweet and savoury.

The New Alipore outlet launched its range of summer specials recently. The base for sweet bites is fruity, which makes for a refreshing snack. Topping the list of these fruity faves is Lychee Love, a unique item that uses lychees, cream, freshly-baked vanilla sponge cake, chocolate vermicelli and roasted almonds as ingredients.

Other additions to the menu include Mango Mania as well as snacks like Veg or Chicken Sandwich Cool.

The fresh fruit confectionery items will be available till May 22.

The new offerings are available at all four Cakes outlets: Rawdon Street, Salt Lake, New Alipore and Gariahat.

Power point

Rotunda, the 10,000-sq-ft convention and banquet hall, was inaugurated by Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the Indian Parliament on Saturday evening. The sprawling, pillar-free and centrally air-conditioned convention centre is located on the top floor of Manikanchan, Special Economic Zone, CN-1, Salt Lake, Sector V.

The hall can be used for corporate meetings, conferences, exhibitions, cocktail parties, charity shows, fashion shows and marriages.

The convention centre will provide facilities like broadband, video-conferencing, web casting, audio-visual equipment and food and beverages.

Saturday also saw the launch of Oysters, a fully air-conditioned restobar on the fourth floor of the same building. The restobar serves a variety of cuisines along with a selection of wines and other beverages.

Choco craze

The 23-year-old Payal Kanoi has her hands full with sinful delights. What started out as a mere hobby, and some mucking around in the kitchen, is today a sweet venture that’s proving to be highly profitable. Home-made chocolates in all flavours, shapes and sizes is her speciality. Truffle, almond, nutty and mint varieties comes crafted as teddy bears, Winnie the Pooh or bouquets. Each of the gift items has been stylised and packaged carefully using PVC sheets.

Labelled Chocolatier, Payal’s business is based at her Alipore residence where she receives orders for all occasions. Anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, birthdays or births, there are a wide variety of chocolate gifts on display and made to order.

Decorated with colourful ribbons, toys, balloons and more, you can spell out just how sweet you would like your bonbons to look. Payal also puts up chocolate counters at weddings and parties with all the goodies designed in keeping with the theme. The price is fixed at Rs 550 per kg, irrespective of the flavour or type but minor packaging costs follow if one wishes to opt for a fancy feel, ranging between Rs 25 and Rs 45.