Dilip Advani, Aroon Shivdasani, Dr Manjula Bansal

Aroon Shivdasani, New York’s doyenne of the South Asian arts scene and director of the Indo-American Arts Council is closely connected with the right movers and shakers to paint the town red.

Over 60 guests gathered at her beautiful townhouse, a stone’s throw from Central Park to just chill out. Guests included Madhur Jaffrey and Sanford Allen, Sakina Jaffrey, Sundaram and Kelly Tagore, Tinku Jain, Tino and Rajika Puri, Anita Trehan and Jaswant Lalwani.

The menu included a sumptuous range of finger foods, dips, fruit, chocolates, confections and lots of red vino. Guests stayed on well after midnight, sitting next to the fireplace, deep in conversation, when the party
turned red hot—with the roaring fire in the fireplace causing smoke to blow into the living room, and setting off the fire alarms. Aroon couldn’t recall the security code and soon four fire trucks loaded with firemen rushed into the apartment to the rescue! Aroon reveals, “Fortunately I let them know just in time that it was just a fire in the fireplace; that we were all safe! That was a close call. I doubt guests would have appreciated being doused with cold water, although I do think the firemen added to the excitement of the evening; some of the young women thought they were cute!”

Venue: Central Park, New York
Buzz: There were smoky conversations and lots
of fire!

Sarita Choudhury, Sakina Jaffrey, Priyanka Mathew

Jackie Melwani, Sundaram Tagore, Lavina Melwani

Anita Trehan, Jaswant Lalwani

Eve Gardner, Talat Ansari

Rajat Chhabra & Hala Al-Khaffaf, Aseem Chhabra

Kabir Chopra, Amina Ahmed

Madhur Jaffrey