Bitchy Bee

I love India's high society! The rich and famous! Without them, our lives would be dull and boring. How would this blog exist, then? They provide pure entertainment, better than any soap opera or masala film. They create an ever unfolding screenplay of their colourful lives, the media voyeuristically captures it all and we hungrily relish it! Of course, you have to read between the lines. Or at least read this column to get a clearer picture.

Socialite writer Shobhaa De's book launch last week proves my point. For years, she sliced and diced Amitabh Bachchan through her columns. Yet, when it came to getting media mileage for her latest creative work, Superstar India, she called upon the Bollywood Superstar to hold up the first copy to be exposed to the world and the media (or at least for those who would be interested in seeing it) among much fanfare at Bombay's Taj Mahal hotel last week. Of course, he gladly came to be part of the socialite's evening. They both know how to play up to the gallery like veteran performers, which is why they were there.

There are some happenings, of course, that the media does not know of or chooses to ignore. But then, you have to be someone like me, who has been witness to some sordid affairs (I can't take names you know, I'll get legal notices!). Like this story I got to know of about this desperate-to-be-in-the-papers male socialite on Bombay's society circuit who leads a double life (incidentally he has also dabbled in filmmaking). Married, with kids. Gay, with a capital G and living it up, after hours. He meets up guys outside the home sweet home, goes for drives and more. Or uses travel as an excuse to hook up with other like-minded fellows. Yawn, there are so many of these, of course. And what about this business baron who, while the wife tends to the baby, goes out on his dingy yacht and plays with other girls. And of these too, there are so many. And what of the numerous affairs I know of that will never see the light of day in the press? Or the manipulations of certain socialites who drip with diamonds as they rip their husband's families in two even as they claim innocence to their supportive journalist friends?

But will I take all these stories to my grave? Will I never be able to tell you about them?

Will I not be able to tell you of who hates whom and why and who's bitching out whom? Or of how some are paupers behind closed doors but live their lives at five star hotels, just so someone may spot them and speak of their extravagance and class? Or friendships breaking and sham marriages?

And now, as I thank India's high society for giving me so much to write about every week, I have to sign off this Truman Show for this week. But I love these star people, so I'll be back next week with more stories, less names and you can read between the lines…

PS: Do write in and do keep smiling!