Camp London:Diwali has a magical, evocative, lyrical quality to it, when far away from the shores of the homeland. Having winged my way across continents to get to Madrid for Anita Pratap's wedding, I knew I couldn't get back home even in superwoman mode for Diwali. London, on November 7, was bright but cold and chilly, and the sunshine and warmth of Madrid, though a couple of hours away, seemed another lifetime.Anita's wedding, to the last Norwegian ambassador to India, Arnie Matthew ? was the stuff of spun dreams in the close, intimate privacy of the magnificent home of the ambassador and his gracious wife but more on that later. On the seventh, Diwali day, I was warmly welcomed to Ramola and Ajitabh Bachchan's for a small private `at home'. When I reached their home, in Hampstead, I was struck by the warmth and subtle colours of the home, almost an invitation or beckoning of its own, but certainly guided by the tasteful eye of the lady of the house, Ramola. A large home even by London standards.Ramola had captured the essence of India.The richness and intimacy of the East, blended with the practicality and efficiency of the West, to create a home. I was indeed captivated to walk into the downstairs saloon to find Naina working her magic through the keys of a grand piano. I listened enthralled at the power and emotion that she wrought from her piano lent a divinity to the room and again made me poignantly aware of being away from home, yet completely at home. Ramola and her three lovely daughters - Namrata, Naina and Neelima greeted me warmly. We drank pink champagne, chatted about this and that and at about 10.30 pm burst crackers. Neelam, a friend of the family, daringly led the cracker rocket brigade. I waved a sparkler gamely but didn't venture further. Ajitabh lit a few of the `Men only' can set these off variety and then we proceeded back into the home to a spot of dancing and fun. Masterji, the girl's dance master was the instigator to much of the revellery, especially when Amitabh's`Jiski Biwi' came on. Lakshmi Sethia came for a brief greeting but otherwise it was just all of us, so I shed my initial inhibition and possibly gave most of our actresses a game run for their Diwali money with my jhataks and mataks.After all this strenuous physical exhaustion, dinner seemed a welcome relief as I was getting pangs of acute hunger. I guess therein lies the real difference between the Bollywood queens and their sylph-like figures and my more mother earth fullness. Well, jokes apart, the delicious vegetarian Diwali feast had us all tucking in, desi style, me using my fingers. I then issued what became an irresistible challenge to the adults on the table that I was, as per the Hindu calendar, born on Lakshmi pooja day and had never ever been beaten at a round of cards on this special day. We adjourned to the living room to test the challenge and Voila! counters, cards, gaddis were all set up and we got down to the serious business of `teen patta'. With Namrata topping my drink and doing theodd round of shuffling the cards, I proved to Ajitabh, Ramola and Neelam that my theory was indeed true. When it seemed like all the counters had made their way to me, we adjourned the game. In the flush of win and feeling a glow of Godliness, I chanted a few mantras and we ended what turned out to be a warm, magical, spiritual evening with Ramola and her brood and Ajitabh but sans son who was away in the USA, and missed by all. Oh! What a night!Diwali happens only once a year, or so I was led to believe till now, but London does it different. On Thursday, Talvin Singh, the high priest of fusion music, invited me and two of my friends to the opening of Fabric. The e-mail flyer went: "11.11.99, Talvin Singh present the Anokha Asian Overground Diwali celebration (with the names of the artists and deejays)." I took Namrata and Naina Bachchan as my guests as they both have a sound art and music background and had a healthy curiosity about fusion and Talvin 's `Anokha'. We arrived and were escorted bySharon,Talvin's lovely assistant, through the VIP door. We were given pink and silver bangle velcro wrist ornaments which was the VIP symbol that at allowed us a free view of the nightclub, all four levels and rooms of it. We ventured into room one which was for the invitees and the hosts, the music was the lure but when Talvin greeted us and put the mandatory glass of champagne in our hands, the night seemed to come well and truly alive.We danced a bit, absorbed our chic `high-class nightclub ambience', met with Shekhar Kapur, our Elizabeth-fame director, his new creative inspiration Andrew Lloyd Webber with wife and our own very famous son of the soil, musician par excellence, the one and only A R Rehman. Applause and loud cheers should follow because I am a true blue fan of this humble musician. We halted for a bit, chatted and then with the girls went off to investigate the other rooms. We meandered into what we thought was the ladies but was really a unisex toilet. High-tech to the point of roundaluminium basins with flowers piled in the centre and foot pump water faucet dispensers. The whole `loo' was an aluminium and chrome dome rather fun and squeaky clean.The best room for us as it turned out was room two where the psychedelic lights and fusion music made one feel like you were on a learning curve of experience which had to raise itself through the `chakras' of body, mind and soul to give an amalgam of Indian music with Western over and undertones, which shook you to the core. The reverberations were intense, I was told later that the dance floor of the club actually vibrates to the intensity of the music being played hence the resonance of `Om'.When Talvin came at 1.00 pm we were delirious as were near-1,000 people in the room. His genius has to be seen and heard to be understood and appreciated, the legitimacy and flavour he's given our music to cross the lines of culture, tempo, beat and rhythm to become the flavour of the millennium is an undeniable fact. It is fusion music which isbreaking barriers of race and colour and the architect of this cross-cultural marriage, is Talvin's true dedication and love for his homeland and his home away from home; brought about through the transcendental rhythm of his tablas. We came away electrified and charged, if we were indeed able to levitate as the munnis and rishis of yore we would have been on cloud nine but life is about reality, so we walked into the dead of a cold London night deep in our own world of rhythm sound and light festival of lights. And I was lucky to enjoy it twice this year.
