Newly minted Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Shashi Kapoor at Prithvi Theatre on Tuesday

Hats on!

IT was good to see the searing heat had not singed the fashionable spirit at one of the most well-organised polo events in the city. Ladies turned up in their colourful summer best and peep toe sling backs, as Rana Kapoor and his family played hosts to polo and fashion enthusiasts. Kapoor's wife Bindu and daughters Rakhee, Radha and Roshini welcomed their special guests with gifts of stylish fascinators and treated them to hors d'oeuvres of salon and caviar over chilled white wine. The match was a scintillating one - with the 'bachelor about town' Riyhad Kundanmal playing commentator - as the nail biting draw ended with a win for team India against Argentina. As soon as the match ended, a live band performed a near-perfect rendition of the Phantom of the Opera. The only eye sore? A certain wannabe social climber and model who was more interested in making her presence felt in a tacky white number that struggled to keep her together. We believe she was greeted with silent collective shrieks.

Quite a sport

GUJARATI filmmakers are going places, literally! While the trio of Mit Jani, Prateek Gupta and Vivek Chaudhary — all 25-year-olds — bagged the Best Debut Film of a Director title at the National Film Awards 2014 for Goonga Pehelwan, city-boy Abhishek Jain will be heading to New York this May to present his movie Bey Yaar at the New York Indian Film Festival 2015. Bey Yaar is the first Gujarati language movie to have reached this festival. While Abhishek was half-hoping Bey Yaar would also win an award at the 62nd National Film Awards announced on Monday, he did not. But he was over the moon to find out that a team from Gujarat had won an award in a non-feature film category. It was he who broke the news to the Goonga Pehelwan team. Let's say cheers to healthy competition!

A shot in the arm

THE Gujarat model continues to make its mark on a national level. In a first for the state, city-based builder and managing director of Savvy Infrastructure Jaxay Shah was appointed the president elect of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India. CREDAI is the apex association of more than 11,200 developers spread across 23 states. When there are stalwarts in the industry with decades of individual experience in other metros, this bit of news comes as an achievement for the city. The suave builder is already preparing for his role which includes working for the three Ps -- Profit, People and Planet. "I want to create the most conducive environment for business, give value to the customers, follow principles of sustainable development and preserve the environment at the same time," says Shah. Wish, we got to see more of affordable houses, too.

English vinglish

AND you thought Ahmedabad had good International Schools with excellent, qualified teachers? Well, your diarist was shocked to find out that an international school in Bodakdev, more popular for its high fees than academic achievements, was least bothered about the deteriorating quality of English taught to high school children. This particular student was over the moon for having scored well in English, till he showed his answer sheet to his mother. The parent told your diarist that the teacher had given him full marks despite spelling mistakes, not bothering once to correct him. If it was once in the paper, one could say it must have been an oversight. But several of his answers had glaring spelling mistakes and he still scored well. It is high time the school took a break from counting currency notes and got teachers to take a language proficiency test instead, your diarist thinks.

Tailpiece

ALL good things must come to an end. But they must do so with a bang and a band. So the Kochi Biennale draws the curtain on one of its most successful seasons ever with a gala dinner and a live performance by Anushka Manchanda's band Ska Vengers. The trustees have sent out invites to all those who have been a part of Whorled Explorations curated by Jitish Kallat, to raise a toast to art in the presence of the mayor, the governor and other dignitaries on March 28. Until next time then.