New Delhi, Sunday February 8, 2009 RING TROUBLE: At the Vanity Fair and Krug party, Paris Hilton was seen making repeated snide remarks to her sister, Nicky Hilton, about how her engagement ring was bigger than Nicky’s Party 3 T he opening of Vera Pizza by Tonino. The connoisseurs of authentic Italian food are definitely not alien to Tonino, the labour of love of Parmeet and Simran Sawhney. There new venture, Vera Pizza is now at the heart of the city. At Masjid Moth in Greater Kailash, which is fast becoming an evening out destination for posh diners and groovers. Well, with the gracious-duo playing host, the lovelies were in plenty. Simar Duggal, the Mehra brothers – Shantanu and Nikhil with Reema and Vidushi, Ranna Gill, Anupama Dayal, the lovely Anita Bajaj and Shivani Wazir amongst other stylistas of town. —Jaydeep Ghosh PHOTOS: PRABHAS ROY What What What Ooh-la-la: Simran Sawhney with Sonali Mathur (R) What’s the big joke? Akhil Nath and Sandeep Gupta (R) Looking for a partner? Amir Pasrich Thrilled to bits: Designer Ranna Gill with Radhika Kapoor(R) Date with pizza: Shivani Wazir Pasrich Playing host: Parmeet Sawhney with Simar Duggal A starlit party celebrating the engagement of Vinod Sinha (Gen. Sec. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Youth) with Garima Prasad. Napoleon Hall, Hotel Le Meridien, Bollywood daring girl Tanushree Dutta was spotted in a rather short dress. Also present were Neetu Chandra and Sharad Kapoor, music director Shravan Rathore, Sadhu Yadav and television actress Amita Nangia. Padma Shri Udit Narayan enthralled the crowd with his beautiful voice. —Zabeeh Afaque What Where Who T hose days are not far when the dhabas on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway will have a VIP section guard- ed with velvet ropes for the snooty crowd to feel privi- leged even at a Dhaba. It’s dis- heartening to see how the Capital is falling prey to what I would like to term as ‘Velvet Rope Urbanism.’ ‘Bribe him, seduce him or just bash-him-up, I just want to sail past the velvet rope’, is the demand of most pretty- young things who go clubbing every night and wants to be at the VIP arena. Velvet Ropes are placed strategically at most nightclubs in town to lure in the wannabe crowd by making them buy expensive memberships or pushing them to buy bottles of cham- pagne. ‘Sir please let me into the VIP section’, the guy pleads; the manager sternly says, ‘That’s a Champagne Lounge. Buy a bottle of Dom and you can go’. If you ask me honestly how aspirational is it to sail past the velvet rope, I would say that in reality, people who flock the VIP arenas are noth- ing but hollow people surviv- ing on old lineage, dead father's wealth or a pretty wife's hob-nobbing skills. Take this case of a night bird whose bosoms are ample. She definitely is not the kind who should be in the VIP zone but all she does is give a killer smile at the Bouncer man- ning the ropes, brush her ample assets on him and voila, the ropes open for her. My years of nightclubbing have made me come to this conclusion that people on the other side of the velvet rope are either Page3 freeloaders, rich kids who blow away money on dad’s platinum cards, drug-peddlers who come handy for those seeking a line of Charlie and some corrupt Police officers who needs to be pampered if the Club needs to run without hiccups. Now why would anybody be so desperate to rub shoulders with these folks, fails my imagination. Velvet Rope is a mirage that everyone’s chasing. CAPITAL BUZZ JAYDEEP GHOSH VELVET ROPE POLITICS Ring for Life Hot short: Tanushree Dutta Hey gorgeous: Neetu Chandra Say cheese: Actress Amita Nangia. Singing for love: Udit Narayan Three’s a party: (L-R) Sharad Kapoor with Vinod Sinha and Garima Prasad PHOTOS: RONJOY GOGOI ILLUSTRATION: DURGA LIP Smacking Lip Smacking