Reinvent me, baby!

Not quite P3

I am thoroughly impressed by people who can constantly reinvent themselves. Take Nisha Jamvwal. When I first met her, she was trying to make her mark as an interior designer. A couple of years later, she wrote on fashion for me, for a magazine at which I was consulting editor. And a couple of years after that, she’s inviting me to fashion shows. Hers. Along the way Nisha’s also become a permanent fixture in the papers for her presence at parties. See what I mean? Reinvention.

Walking into one that celebrates her birthday, I am asked by After Hrs, the television show, if I have a message for the birthday girl. I tell them to have her call me when she gets closer to my age. Foolish. Nisha’s never going to get to my age. Pointing me to the bar, she tells the lady next to me her dress is from a collection called ‘Sex With My Ex’. I tell her most men I know are still trying to get it from their Current. She tells me to stop whining. And to go share a cigar with her husband instead. Which I am happy to do. Jammy is a fine fellow and I am most fond of him.

A couple of days later I’m on a train to paradise. Well, almost. The Deccan Odyssey is Maharashtra’s answer to the Palace on Wheels. For the past couple of years it’s been peddled to tourists. Now they figure it’s time to foster interest locally as well. Suresh Shetty, who’s our tourism minister, does it by getting a bunch of people onto the train for a short ride. And a fashion show. He knows what he’s doing. By the time we’re back at the station, he has enough people asking how they can book the train for weddings and conferences. The men, at any rate. The women are asking how they can get their hands on the jewellery that walked passed them. 

I’m a big believer in train rides, so I figure I’d be happy to do this again. Seven days spent in travelling from Mumbai to Aurangabad and Goa amongst others. A dining room run by the Taj. Cabins. Suites. A bar car no one wants to leave. I figure the only part of the train I wouldn’t visit is the health club. Lifting weights on a rolling train? I think not. I don’t even do that in a stationary gym.