New Delhi: The draw of the Delhi launch of Shalini Paasi’s book, The Art of Being Fabulous, was a conversation between the socialite and author-politician Shashi Tharoor, but it never happened. The event, scheduled between 5-9 pm on a Sunday evening, lasted for effectively less than 30 minutes.
The venue was the Terrace at Chanakyapuri’s Leela Palace Hotel, and the event was fabulously late by an hour. One might recall the iconic dialogue by Julie Andrews in The Princess Diaries 2—“A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early.” Meanwhile, photographers got guests to pose with the book, and chefs polished their dishes for the high tea. Passi’s husband, Sanjay, greeted everyone and thanked the guests for attending, behaving as husbands are expected to.
Shalini Passi finally made her grand entrance, with two assistants in tow, in a custom saree from designer Ashdeen Lilaowala’s print series. Photographers, fans and well-wishers from as far as Hong Kong immediately scrambled to surround the star of Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives.
The emcee had to request the guests multiple times to sit down in the seats arranged in front of the stage. But no one paid heed, as they continued to pose with Passi for photographs. Two prudent women, however, decided to keep their lipsticks—one from Huda Beauty and another from MAC Cosmetics—on two seats, to reserve them. This was possibly the elite version of throwing handkerchiefs on public bus seats. Trust rich people to bring absurdity to the desi protocol.
But finally, after the emcee, in a slightly raised voice, requested everyone to sit down, they obliged. And then began the marathon of describing Passi’s fabulousness. This was possibly an unplanned gushing session because Tharoor had still not arrived at the affair.
One by one, guests stood up to convey how much they love Passi and what she does. One woman even gushed about how she loved the reality TV breakout star’s ‘humility’.
“But I am not humble at all,” was Passi’s quick retort.
Also read: Shalini Passi says there are four stages of loving her—shock, denial, acceptance and escape
The conversation that never was
Passi explained the process of writing the book, beginning with how a persuasive book agent convinced her. “I said my English is not like Mr Tharoor’s, and he is unveiling the book today,” said Passi with a smile.
Tharoor, however, arrived 45 minutes after the event was supposed to officially start. After opening a giant-sized book and ‘officially’ launching it, Tharoor went up to the dias to give a long and detailed speech on the merits of the book.
For those who haven’t read the book, it was a fairly descriptive summary, but in Tharoor’s Thesaurus-fuelled language.
“What she offers is perception, a way of seeing that lingers long enough for us to question how much of our lives we are truly paying attention to,” said Tharoor, as he delivered his 10-minute-long exposition on the book.
Immediately after it got over, there was a palpable anticipation in the crowd for a discussion between the two stalwarts of the two worlds.
But what came next was the emcee’s vote of thanks. Then the glass dome-like walls magically opened to reveal the Delhi night sky and the high tea spread. People ran—depending on priorities—toward the high tea spread or to get a photograph with Tharoor.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)