Swim Song

It's that time of the year again. The sexy young things keep their date with the new year, pouting out of calendars, clad almost only in birthday suits. Little wonder that the invite for the launch of the Kingfisher Swimsuit Special 2005 aboard Vijay Mallya's yacht Indian Princess specified "strictly boat shoes or bare feet". Among the SYTs, it was Pia Trivedi who shone out. "I worked very hard before the shoot in South Africa," says Trivedi. Anyone thought of a prize for the arduous art of posing semi-naked in exotic locales?

Stick Flick

The closest Sunny (left) and Bobby Deol have got to playing hockey is using the stick to crack skulls on screen. Still, considering the woeful awareness about the sport in India, that's a lot. Or so thinks sports channel ESPN which signed the Deol brothers to endorse the Premier Hockey League that kicked off in Hyderabad on January 13. Besides shooting promos, the actors will be seen playing out their sons-of-the-soil role to push the game. "Hockey is India's sport," says Bobby when asked why they weren't pushing cricket. Er, hockey is a colonial legacy too.

Officially Yours

The proposal was Bollywood-like. He popped the question at a gurdwara, she coyly accepted. US-based hotel scion Sant Chatwal's son Vikram Chatwal and model Priya Sachdev, daughter of Ashok Sachdev of Harpreet Ford, got engaged this week. Those in attendance at the do were politicos and stars, spiritual gurus and socialites. And, of course, matchmaker Queenie Dhody, who introduced the two. Now look out for the mega wedding of New York's Swingin' Sikh and Delhi''s Page Three princess.

SON ON STRINGS

With a violin maestro for a dad, it was only a matter of time before Ambi Subramaniam, 13, began pulling his own strings. When the son of Dr L. Subramaniam, accompanied by three teenage musicians, played the violin at the closing ceremony of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Mumbai, he got a standing ovation. Even President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said, "We heard beautiful music by these children. It's a beautiful elevator of the mind." That would be music to the young violinist's ears.

-Compiled by Kanika Gahlaut

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