Dumb and dumber

Are models instructed to be dumb, is it a cult thing with them or more importantly is it genetic?

The other day when I went for a fashion show, I saw this really hunky model. On the ramp he was a stud, but off it, he was a zilch. P and I went up to him with some questions. The first thing he said was, "Well, guys hardly have any choice when it comes to clothes. You girls have lots of choice and you would look sexy in anything." He kept looking at us for a reaction. Sadly it was lost on both of us. I looked at P. She was very studiously penning down stuff and
I was too distracted by his foolishness. His name? Aditya Bal.

The girls however tend to use their cerebrum while talking. At least
this pretty model called Aanchal Kumar did. I think I was the first one to speak to her. How would it explain otherwise, why she was so
genuinely sweet to me. A study in contrast - VJ Anousha. She was all
hoity toity. I did my part in ruffling her feathers. I happened to call her Anoushka.

What an easy life these models have - all they have to do is take time to don tonnes of make-up and display wafer thin bodies in sexy clothes. But some are really ugly. It's a sin that they are up there. One particular guy caught my eye with his distinctly neolithic looks.

"Vinod contacts several music directors and asks for their ideas for
scores and songs. Anu Malik, the composer he worked with on Kareeb, gets very emotional when he hears that Vinod is shopping around. He has a two-hour conversation with Vinod one Sunday morning in which he declares he is ready to work for free. He weeps and wails; he will not ask for a single paisa. The money is nothing compared to their friendship, he declares through his sobs. Vinod hears a crunching sound on the other end of the line. 'What's that? asks Vinod. 'I'm eating a radish,' answers the composer. 'Just a minute, I'll finish it.' Vinod hears him furiously crunching away; then he comes back to the phone, ready to weep afresh." That's an extract from Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost & Found. He worked on the script of Mission Kahsmir with Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

It's quite a good read - he talks about Amitabh Bachchan to Shahrukh Khan to Mahesh Bhatt to cops to Bal Thackeray to bar dancers.

Between, S, E and I went out for dinner. It was S's birthday treat. At Flavours. On the way, we witnessed hormones running amok. And all we were doing were trying to hail an auto.

The Bangkok Thai Cafe adjacent to Flavours needs some serious image change. As in, people might die queueing up outside Flavours, but they wouldn't touch the Cafe with a barge pole. I told S that I should probably set shop there with my paan shop - Paandora's Box. Now that goes back a long time. To when S and me were in an auto one hot summer's day last year. I had just returned from a junket to Palampur and McCleodganj and was hell-bent upon opening a restaurant in McCleodganj. Finally, I had to scale down to Pandara Road. But where there's a will there's a way, right?;)