Raju, who is busy on his phone, says, ‘Round trip costs 7,333 each.’
‘He has already worked out the rates!’ Komal’s laugh is laced with gin.
Lavanya does the slow clap for Raju. ‘Let’s ask this prince fellow why they want to lease their palace. What exactly is the reason?’
‘He made the why perfectly clear when he was here,’ I say.
Lavanya, who, like Komal, is also feeling the drinks downed, leans into me with a question. ‘Does this mean his father trusts your dad more than Vedveer trusts you? Because the only one with ants in his pants is the prince fellow.’
I laugh out loud. Lavanya has a point. The question, though, iswhy… Could it be because Kairi Gaur is maybe newly single?
TittleTattle
Gupshup Column
Guess who we caught indulging in cosplay?!
Curious so-and-so,
You are never going to believe this. Go through the pictures on the adjacent page carefully, one at a time. There are eight photographs in all, four people on this table at a bar in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet. It’s called Lakshmi Bar.
We spoke to one of the customers to get an opinion on the place because there were no reviews! Come on, we’re literally living in review raj! He gave the bar a five-star assessment, calling it ‘puccalocal,yellabasic’.
Okay. So can you recognize her? The girl with the black-brown ringlets, flannel shirt, Bata shoes and a cloth bag?
Behind the elaborate cosplay and curated mystery is none other than Aaditha Prathap — yes, that Aaditha, daughter of Karnataka’s finance minister and fiancée to Jaipur’s crown prince, Vedveer Rathore Singh. The latest addition to the celebrity circus seems to have forgotten that masks slip.
TT wonders if the Rathores are aware of the wild side of Karnataka’s Coffee Queen.
We learnt that Aaditha and her gang of friends, which includes jewellery heiress Lavanya Patil and two others (a man and a woman) whom we couldn’t identify, meet at this bar every once in a while. We wonder why, because there are at least two of them in the group who can buy the place with their loose change.
Nobody at Lakshmi Bar knew who this foursome was, but one of the customers, whom we tapped after he staggered out past midnight, took the piss out of us when he asked, ‘Famous-ahh?’
Also, take the time to take in the details in the photographs; go ahead and zoom in. Aaditha isn’t wearing the green bauble, obviously because that is hard to miss and would have given her away instantly. But also could be because Prince Vedveer has been otherwise busy, socializing with the lovely Kairi Gaur, who we hear is newly single.
When they were done with the evening, they clutched each other’s hands, coming together in a circle, which sparked serious cult vibes.
It looks like the four of them ordered the whole bar and the kitchen, which isn’t saying much because the wines cost 150 bucks for the 375 ml bottle, and the vodka is billed at 40 bucks a peg.
And finally, dearies, TT finds it hard to imagine HRH Vedveer in a place that charges 200 INR to clean vomit! Eeeiiiuwww! This may be a side of Aaditha the Rathores hadn’t contended with.
21.
Vedveer
Colours of Autumn
Father is nursing his afternoon whisky, eyes fixed on an old photograph of mine that Mother had blown up on the wall.
I’m astride Bolt, my favourite steed. The wind is blowing through my hair, and my slightly angled back has soaked up the morning moisture.
‘Remind me again, Veer, who took this photograph?’ he asks.
Gyan, a stable boy who loves clicking photographs, particularly of horses, had caught that frame in a Canon Father gifted him.
Father nods and eyes my empty hands before turning to Bhanu, the butler.
‘Yuvraj isn’t thirsty,hukum,’ he says.
