<p> From the service, food to the decor, people couldn’t stop raving about the place. Many were even relieved that the chain of hotel had finally made its way to the City. “This is one of my favourite places to eat when I go abroad and now I am really happy that it’s just a hop, skip and jump away from my place,” said a guest. <br />What was really interesting to see was how well-dressed everyone was. “This is by far one of the most good looking parties I have been too, everyone looks fabulous,” said one of the guests. Be it the little number that actress Sanjana wore or the hot red heels worn by Shruti, even Ruby Chakroborthy brought in a chilli flavour with her red top. The men were not far behind, the waist coats, shiny black shoes, leather belts to formal shirts matched up to the style quotient of the evening. <br />Curiosity and the reputation pulled in many of the guest. “I generally don’t go out partying much but I had heard so much about the place from my friends that I simply had to check it out,” said the dimpled cheek Diganth. One thing is for sure the real star of the evening turned out to be the margarita bar which kept serving the guest into the night. <br /><br /><br /><br />Spoilt for choice<br /><br /><em>An afternoon of high octane speed and searing cricket action was organised at a pub recently</em><br /><br /><br />Sport fans are spoilt for choice with Formula One races and the IPL matches happening at the same time, albeit at different locations around the globe. Recently, an afternoon of high octane speed and searing cricket action was organised at a pub and the organiser creatively decided to switch the screening between the two sport as the telecast was displayed on the big screens set up at the cosy venue.<br />The guests drifted in leisurely and got comfortable with cups of tea and cold coffee while the peppy Emcee Abbas kept the off screen tempo going with his spot quizzes and giveaways.<br />The home team supporters, who were in high spirits when the Royal Challengers took on the Mumbai Indians in what promised to be a thrilling match, began to let out loud sighs and groans of disappointment as the blue brigade came out with an inspired performance to beat Royal Challengers by 16 runs at St George's Park. Reassuringly, the hot favourite on the Grand Prix circuit was Jenson Button, who didn't let down his fans but drove a perfect two-stop race to take his fourth victory in five races in Sunday afternoon’s Spanish Grand Prix, leading home early leader and three-stopping partner Rubens Barrichello by 13 seconds.<br />Plenty of winners who got their quizzes right but limited prizes meant that Abbas had to have lucky draws and tie breaker questions to decide who would walk home with the goodies which ranged from tee-shirts to gift vouchers and cases of beer.<br />As the lights came on and afternoon turned to dusk, there were several other guests who came in making it a late Sunday afternoon of sports action and settled in with their buddies over pints of beer and nibbles till the on-screen action finally ended and they were able to call it an evening.<br /><br />After a long wait<br /><br /><br />The first prelude party for the Bangalore Fashion Week (BFW) started exactly two hours late at a popular hotel in the City. The party stood out by the sparse presence of P3Ps. It was not clear what had kept them away. It could have been the unseasonal rain, lack of adequate publicity or even plain indifference.<br />People began trickling in by nine. A handful of prominent P3Ps drove in and headed straight to the bar counter and helped themselves to their favourite drink. They soon settled down to talking shop with those around. <br />The more popular P3Ps were surrounded by total strangers who wanted to be friends with them and perhaps wanted to get a picture clicked too. Veena Bhatt and Rekha Hande were among the first to arrive. Dressed to the hilt, jewellery and clothes perfectly matching, they were there to support and cheer the initiative to organise the BFW. “Bangalore is no doubt the fashion capital. I hope the fashion week brings in some stunning new designs and good looking models,” said Rekha, a former Miss India. <br />Veena was sure that the event will attract a lot of NRI presence and of course, will once again reiterate Bangalore’s importance on a national scale. Moi, a student of NIFT, had dragged along her sister Remi, hoping the evening would help her establish some good contacts in the fashion industry. “It is only at gatherings like these that we’d get to meet people,” said Moi. <br /> Vyshak, with the Embassy Group and his friend Ashwin Kuder said that in addition to a weekend outing, they had come to get a glimpse of the new designs and of course, catch some good looking models strut their stuff. <br /> The night drew to an end by 11 but only after the organisers promised more such prelude parties in the run-up to the BFW. <br /><br /><br /><br />Never-ending shows and launches <br /><br />There’s always a select P3P presence and celebrity appearances at Prasad Bidapa’s shows. He appears to believe that he launches not only his new models but also celebrities as well.<br />Prasad’s list of invitees comprise the classiest of people. His shows are known for their finesse, notwithstanding the confusion backstage. There’s no fashion show in the City without a Bidapa touch to it.<br />At his recent launch of fresh faces, he also announced a Bangalore-based journalist as a celebrity. This mediaman turned celebrity, thanks to Prasad, was termed “media star” and was promptly chosen to be among the judges to mark out the new faces! <br /> The launch had among its guest list Maharaja Srikanta Wodeyar, sitting among the people watching the young wannabe, models walk the ramp with confidence. <br />Designers, old models-turned-friends of Prasad, were there to make the event a memorable one. Models such as Raghu Mukherjee, Roshan Isaac and Zoheb Syed, once launched by Prasad and now established, formed the core group, training the new faces to make it big. The fresh faces seemed overwhelmed by Prasad and were quick to hail him as the “ultimate fashion guru”. <br />“I wouldn’t be here but for Prasad. He’s made me what I am,” says Reenu, a fresh face. Alisha D’souza, a student at the Mount Carmel College observes that working with Prasad and sharing the ramp with other new faces was a great experience. <br />“However, walking the ramp with experienced models was exciting and scary at the same time. Hopefully, this gives me the required exposure to reach greater heights in the industry,” says Alisha. <br /></p>
<p> From the service, food to the decor, people couldn’t stop raving about the place. Many were even relieved that the chain of hotel had finally made its way to the City. “This is one of my favourite places to eat when I go abroad and now I am really happy that it’s just a hop, skip and jump away from my place,” said a guest. <br />What was really interesting to see was how well-dressed everyone was. “This is by far one of the most good looking parties I have been too, everyone looks fabulous,” said one of the guests. Be it the little number that actress Sanjana wore or the hot red heels worn by Shruti, even Ruby Chakroborthy brought in a chilli flavour with her red top. The men were not far behind, the waist coats, shiny black shoes, leather belts to formal shirts matched up to the style quotient of the evening. <br />Curiosity and the reputation pulled in many of the guest. “I generally don’t go out partying much but I had heard so much about the place from my friends that I simply had to check it out,” said the dimpled cheek Diganth. One thing is for sure the real star of the evening turned out to be the margarita bar which kept serving the guest into the night. <br /><br /><br /><br />Spoilt for choice<br /><br /><em>An afternoon of high octane speed and searing cricket action was organised at a pub recently</em><br /><br /><br />Sport fans are spoilt for choice with Formula One races and the IPL matches happening at the same time, albeit at different locations around the globe. Recently, an afternoon of high octane speed and searing cricket action was organised at a pub and the organiser creatively decided to switch the screening between the two sport as the telecast was displayed on the big screens set up at the cosy venue.<br />The guests drifted in leisurely and got comfortable with cups of tea and cold coffee while the peppy Emcee Abbas kept the off screen tempo going with his spot quizzes and giveaways.<br />The home team supporters, who were in high spirits when the Royal Challengers took on the Mumbai Indians in what promised to be a thrilling match, began to let out loud sighs and groans of disappointment as the blue brigade came out with an inspired performance to beat Royal Challengers by 16 runs at St George's Park. Reassuringly, the hot favourite on the Grand Prix circuit was Jenson Button, who didn't let down his fans but drove a perfect two-stop race to take his fourth victory in five races in Sunday afternoon’s Spanish Grand Prix, leading home early leader and three-stopping partner Rubens Barrichello by 13 seconds.<br />Plenty of winners who got their quizzes right but limited prizes meant that Abbas had to have lucky draws and tie breaker questions to decide who would walk home with the goodies which ranged from tee-shirts to gift vouchers and cases of beer.<br />As the lights came on and afternoon turned to dusk, there were several other guests who came in making it a late Sunday afternoon of sports action and settled in with their buddies over pints of beer and nibbles till the on-screen action finally ended and they were able to call it an evening.<br /><br />After a long wait<br /><br /><br />The first prelude party for the Bangalore Fashion Week (BFW) started exactly two hours late at a popular hotel in the City. The party stood out by the sparse presence of P3Ps. It was not clear what had kept them away. It could have been the unseasonal rain, lack of adequate publicity or even plain indifference.<br />People began trickling in by nine. A handful of prominent P3Ps drove in and headed straight to the bar counter and helped themselves to their favourite drink. They soon settled down to talking shop with those around. <br />The more popular P3Ps were surrounded by total strangers who wanted to be friends with them and perhaps wanted to get a picture clicked too. Veena Bhatt and Rekha Hande were among the first to arrive. Dressed to the hilt, jewellery and clothes perfectly matching, they were there to support and cheer the initiative to organise the BFW. “Bangalore is no doubt the fashion capital. I hope the fashion week brings in some stunning new designs and good looking models,” said Rekha, a former Miss India. <br />Veena was sure that the event will attract a lot of NRI presence and of course, will once again reiterate Bangalore’s importance on a national scale. Moi, a student of NIFT, had dragged along her sister Remi, hoping the evening would help her establish some good contacts in the fashion industry. “It is only at gatherings like these that we’d get to meet people,” said Moi. <br /> Vyshak, with the Embassy Group and his friend Ashwin Kuder said that in addition to a weekend outing, they had come to get a glimpse of the new designs and of course, catch some good looking models strut their stuff. <br /> The night drew to an end by 11 but only after the organisers promised more such prelude parties in the run-up to the BFW. <br /><br /><br /><br />Never-ending shows and launches <br /><br />There’s always a select P3P presence and celebrity appearances at Prasad Bidapa’s shows. He appears to believe that he launches not only his new models but also celebrities as well.<br />Prasad’s list of invitees comprise the classiest of people. His shows are known for their finesse, notwithstanding the confusion backstage. There’s no fashion show in the City without a Bidapa touch to it.<br />At his recent launch of fresh faces, he also announced a Bangalore-based journalist as a celebrity. This mediaman turned celebrity, thanks to Prasad, was termed “media star” and was promptly chosen to be among the judges to mark out the new faces! <br /> The launch had among its guest list Maharaja Srikanta Wodeyar, sitting among the people watching the young wannabe, models walk the ramp with confidence. <br />Designers, old models-turned-friends of Prasad, were there to make the event a memorable one. Models such as Raghu Mukherjee, Roshan Isaac and Zoheb Syed, once launched by Prasad and now established, formed the core group, training the new faces to make it big. The fresh faces seemed overwhelmed by Prasad and were quick to hail him as the “ultimate fashion guru”. <br />“I wouldn’t be here but for Prasad. He’s made me what I am,” says Reenu, a fresh face. Alisha D’souza, a student at the Mount Carmel College observes that working with Prasad and sharing the ramp with other new faces was a great experience. <br />“However, walking the ramp with experienced models was exciting and scary at the same time. Hopefully, this gives me the required exposure to reach greater heights in the industry,” says Alisha. <br /></p>
