"An evening of birthday parties"
Last week was full of birthday parties. The first was the eightieth birthday party of Dr Karan Singh. That afternoon, the Prime Minister released Doctor Sahib's book, "Kashmir and beyond".Manmohan Singh and Karan Singh have known each other for 60 years since the days of Government College, Hoshiarpur. The Prime Minister was all praise for the birthday boy .He complimented his ability to tackle difficult assignments with grace and intellectual content and dignity.
A short film illustrating Karan Singh's 12 beliefs on the future of humanity in his words was shown. The Prime Minister and he both agreed that India is more than an emerging market. It is an emerging idea. The Prime Minister was right when he said that Karan Singh is a man of a unique global citizen and a man of great learning. Nobody represents and symbolises the ethos of civilisation more than him.
But have to say that the capital's crème de la crème in their chiffons and pearls and the men in their suits sat through till the end, which is very rare for Delhi. The man of the moment spoke about how much he missed his wife. Most people are not aware of how the Nepali princess not only learnt Dogri, her husband's mother tongue, but also sang beautifully Dogri songs.
Karan Singh's elder son Vikramaditya and wife hosted a dinner the same evening.
A pleasant evening of quiet chatter included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Arun Jaitely, Barkha Dutt, Suman Dubey and a host of royal relatives. Kashmiri kahwas ensured that guests got a gentle reminder of the gentleman royal that Karan Singh is. The royalty of Kashmir made sure that this was a memorable day for the family and close friends. But the elegant and beautiful late Yasho Rajya was missed by all.
The same crowd was later seen congratulating the other birthday boy, Shashi Tharoor. His wife Sunanda made a huge effort of inviting all their friends and Shashi's colleagues for the evening.
There was a big mix of Bollywood celebrities, industrialists and politicians of the younger generation. Sunil Mittal, Sachin Pilot, Palam Raju and some media honchos were present. Rahul Bose and Anil Kapoor had especially flown in for this evening. Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress was seen busy answering questions on seatsharing in Bengal and on whether Mamta will become CM after the elections or carry on as Railway Minister.
The birthday boy is still absolutely enamoured with his Kashmiri wife, one could see. The new minister from Punjab, Ashwani Kumar, eloquently explained the government's stand on a variety of issues.
Sunanda claims to be an expert cook in Kashmiri cuisine, which was the menu that evening. As it was also Navin Jindal's birthday the same day, he walked in late with his wife after his own celebrations.
A hectic evening of birthday celebrations for Delhi's elite, indeed.
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