PEOPLE
India Abroad
February 10, 2012
This time last year, most of us were wondering if Lisa Ray was going to tie the knot (India Abroad, January 27, 2011). Just one year, and so much
has changed. The Indo-Canadian
actress has got engaged to her
boyfriend Jason Dehni. ‘Just returned
from the glorious Napa Valley — the
gourmand’s and wine-lovers’ paradise. ENGAGED to the love of my
life. Jason Dehni proposed in Napa.
#happiestdayever, she tweeted.
Dehni, a vice president at Scotia
Bank, tweeted, ‘Went to Napa Valley,
God’s country, looking for my angel
@Lisaraniray. Found her and
brought her back an engaged
woman.’ Here’s wishing the couple a
happily ever after.
Lisa’s happily ever after
Lovebirds Lisa Ray and Jason Dehni
COURTES Y: T WI TTER. COM/LISARANIRAY
Vikram Seth’s
mother-son chat
Winningnote
Naeem
in the
driver’s
seat
GUNJESH DESAI
Vijay Iyer has earned a Grammy nomina- tion, been voted the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists
Association, been named one the 50 most
Influential Global Indians by GQ India and
won the India Abroad Publisher’s Special
Award for Excellence 2010. To this list of distinctions he now adds the Greenfield Prize,
awarded by the Hermitage Artist Retreat and
the Greenfield Foundation. The prize, which
‘rotates each year among three areas; drama,
music, and a “wild card”… which ‘may be
awarded in any field,’ consists of a $30,000
commission of an original work of art, a residency at the Hermitage, and a partnership
with a professional arts organization to develop the work plus assistance in moving the
work forward into the arts world. Keep the
music flowing, Vijay.
With a glittering fan base that includes the likes of Beyoncé, Penelope Cruz,
Lea Michele, Taylor Swift, Lady
Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Eva
Longoria and First Lady Michelle
Obama it comes as no surprise that
Naeem Khan has bagged the
Mercedes-Benz Presents title for the
upcoming Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week in New York. According to
Emercedesbenz.com, the Presents
program will showcase ‘two examples of superb craftsmanship and
design: Pieces from the Naeem
Khan collection and the 2012 ML63
AMG SUV.’ The Indian-American
designer joins a the league of
designers like Carolina Herrera,
Monique Lhuillier, Badgley Mischka
and Narciso Rodriguez with this
title, and we are sure that all eyes,
including ours, will be on him at the
event, which kicks off February 9.
In the midst of Indian literary meets being hijacked by fundamentalists — first over Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literature Festival
and now over Taslima Nasreen at the Kolkata
Literary Meet — it is refreshing to see some engaging conversations about books and authors emerging. One such conversation that caught our eye was
novelist Vikram Seth and his mother Leila Seth’s (a
former high court chief justice and an author of a
memoir and a children’s book) with Firstpost.com
Leila spoke about why she had a tough time coming
to terms with Vikram being gay. ‘It was a criminal
offence then. I worried for him,’ she said. ‘It is
something one is not normally used to. I remember
reading a book called The Well of Loneliness about
two lesbians and I remember it moved me. Love is
such a beautiful thing and they could not share it
with anybody. I think that came back to me. I read
it at 17 and I thought how lonely a person must be
if you can’t share his love with other people.’ Leila
not only came to terms with it, but also wrote about
it in her autobiography. ‘People have told me they
were not able to accept this about their children.
And almost gave up on their child. Reading it has
made them realize to care for the child more. The
child is not in the normal routine life. He is the
lonely child. He needs more love, more affection,’
she said. The mother-son duo was equally candid
when asked if Vikram had found a ‘suitable boy’ yet.
He said, ‘ There are no suitable boys or girls around.
It’s just they have not swum into my ken. Or I have
not been courageous enough or charming enough
to find out.’ Leila added, ‘There was someone in
your life. Both a suitable girl at one time and a suitable boy at another stage. Relationships can last for
years. But since there is no marriage, there is no
divorce.’
ERIC THAYER/REU TERS
