Starting on one of the most challenging assignments of my career from tomorrow - as Consulting Editor on-board the India Today Lifestyle Group, handling Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, India Today Travel Plus and Design Today. Wish me luck!!!!!

India's first Omega Boutique

Thursday, November 25, 2004 will see the Popley Group unveil India's first Omega Exclusive Boutique at the Grand Hyatt Plaza with a fashion show followed by cocktails and dinner from 8.30 p.m. onwards.

Previously only available through high end retail outlet's Popley presents the first exclusive Omega experience. The president of Omega, Mr. Stephen Urquhart will make his first visit to India especially to launch the boutique. Accompanying Mr. Urquhart will be Mr. G Kannan, Country Manager of the Swatch Group India. The gorgeous Sonali Bendre Behl, Brand ambassador for Omega (India), will also attend the evening with her husband Goldie Behl.

Popley - La Classique established by the Popley Group also has a strong presence in Dubai. It is an up-market boutique where premium international jewelry and accessories such as Rado, Tissot, Longines, Raymond Weil, Dior, Ronco, Nakshatra, Albor, Solitaires, etc are available. Today it stands tall as the largest jewelry camp; accessories store in Gold Souk, known as the "Gold Mine of the Gulf".

Popley has launched three La Classique Boutiques in a span of less than three months in Dubai and Mumbai. Popley has plans to open seven more La Classique Boutiques in Dubai City in addition to the existing four by 2007 and each metro and sub metro city of India will have a La Classique Boutique by year 2010. This will position them as the largest international jewelry and accessories store chain in India.

Koffee with Karan

If you did not watch Koffee with Karan tonight - its a new chat show hosted by Karan Johar - you really, really missed something. It featured Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, and was just too cute! The chemistry between Kajol, SRK and Karan is very much alive and kicking despite the lady's long sabbatical from films, and it was just one full hour of non-stop laughter! Though comparisons with Simi Garewal's Rendezvous are inevitable, I think Koffee will have no problem establishing its own cachet. And, actually, the two shows are pretty different - while Rendezvous is very soul searching and intense, Koffee is just great fun and shared memories....I just love both of them!! I am now dying to see the episode where Karan "chats" with Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan. In the meantime, here are some priceless nuggets from this episode:

SRK on becoming a parent: Having a child is like having a piece of your heart walking along outside of you!

SRK on awards that he has not won: The awards did not deserve me!

Kajol on the sexiest man in India: Ajay Devgan ;)

Kajol on what she dislikes most about Ajay: He is too unsocial!

Kajol on which actor would make the worst prime minister: Govinda

SRK on what he would say to fans of Aamir Khan: Guys, you've to have an idol that you look up to ;)

SRK on what he would say to fans of Salman Khan: God bless you!

SRK on his alleged differences with Ajay Devgan: Let me make this very, very clear....Ajay and I have absolutely no differences just now, neither did we ever have any in the past...the future, of course, is not too promising, with the fact that the guy is going to me just maaaaaaaaad when Aryan starts wooing Nysa and taking her out on dates!! That's when Ajay is gonna jump onto his trampouline and punch my face!!!!!!!!!!!

Quotes to live life by...

I want to live for ecstasy. Small doses, moderate loves, all half-shades, leave me cold. I like extravagance. Letters which give the postman a stiff back to carry, books which overflow from their covers, sexuality which bursts the thermometers - Anais Nin

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is really all it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the problem is, if you don't risk everything, You risk even more - Erica Jong

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years - Audrey Hepburn