Sunday, June 18, 2000		Scene Stealers

Mandeep Rai, an IRS officer of 1973 batch who is now an Income Tax Commissioner, has come out with his second book No Friends, No Enemies. A product of YPS, Patiala, and the Government College for Boys, Chandigarh, Rai developed a love for the language because of his British school teacher. As is the norm, Rai opted for engineering after Class XII and joined IIT, Bombay. But he left mid-way and came to Chandigarh to take a course in social sciences. Though he had written many short stories in his school and college days, Rai produced his first novel only a few years back. In the Shadow of the Pines had a historical background and it covered the period between 1845 and 1857. The book got good reviews.

His new book is again a historical novel and is set against the backdrop of a clash of ideologies during the early sixties. Rai cautions that a historical novel has to be read as historical fiction and not as fictional history. He has done extensive research for the book. Says the ever-busy IT Commissioner about himself as a writer, "If a thought comes to my mind even at the dead of the night, I get up and jot it down. An idea once lost, is lost forever."

The launch of a regional TV channel at a five star hotel in Delhi recently was a grand affair. The movers and shakers of tinsel town were present in full strength and included names like Mahesh Bhatt, Tanuja Chandra, Komal GB Singh, Khushwant Singh, Preeti Sapru, Ruby Bhatia, Mangal Dhillion, Ved Mehta, Kiran Juneja, Divya Datta, Siddharat Basu et al. The star attraction at the show, however, was the CEC , M.S. Gill. His fan following, it appears, is growing by leaps and bounds. The other person whose popularity chart seems to be zooming is Neena Gupta. Dressed in a short pale green kurta-salwaar, she mixed easily with guests and danced her heart out. The dusky belle with a husky voice, Usha Uthup, kept Neena company on the dance floor. Divya Datta compered the show and Jaswinder Narula was as melodious as always.

"Car cosmetics"

It is when you meet Manu Jain that you realise that if you have passion for something, you don’t need degrees to become a specialist. The 30-year-old automobile design wizard’s first attempt at ‘car cosmetics’ was when he turned his Maruti 800 into a 1000 cc vehicle. He was in school then. 

Later he designed and remodelled several vehicles and his first major break came when he designed the Hero Chaser or Wheelie, a small four-wheel, petrol-driven, all-terrain vehicle for children. He has since then also designed 600 bikes for a major pizza chain with an inbuilt warming system. 

He is also the man who restored a 1954 vintage Jaguar owned by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. Manu is now manufacturing golf carts and neighbourhood vehicles which can be used in commercial establishments and farm houses. Says he: "I love machinery and everything I make is a labour of love."

Last word

The invitees to a regional TV channel’s launch party were having trouble getting into the venue because of the revolving door which had been installed at the entrance. An impatient socialite waiting for the log jam to clear commented: "This door must have been a bureaucrat’s idea. Only a bureaucrat can complicate things while claiming to make them simpler.” Incidentally, the party’s host and the chief executive of this private channel happens to be an ex bureaucrat.