Her client base is so versatile that Gurlein has become a complete wiz at unique concepts and unusual materials, 99 per cent of which she manufactures at her own factory at Andheri. She collects all the junk she can lay her hands on.

Gurlein Manchanda was just a teenage bride when she burst into the Bombay social scene. She came from Delhi where she was born, bred and educated. She loved the buzz of the city but was not sure of the Bombay society. There was a certain angst involved, a wariness. Understandably all that was soon overcome. When you are as bubbly as Gurlein, Bombay takes to you. And you take a shine to Bombay. Gurlein stayed on to adapt to Bombay's ways and become one of its most successful and accomplished residents.

She carved for herself a very unusual niche, she became a wedding planner and an event organiser in 1988. When you consider how many years ago that was, you have to pat her back, for there weren't many who were doing what she was and certainly not with the same flair. No job was too big, no occasion daunting. And the more out of the ordinary the theme, the better she liked it. She gave each of her jobs such an individual, creative stamp, you could walk into a wedding reception area and immediately tell this operation was executed by none other than Gurlein, that enormously attractive, highly creative girl.

She uses all kinds of materials to dress a function. It�s an instinctive thing. Arises from a passion hard to describe. Its source is in a madness which lies deep within the human soul. Gurlein knows she is mad. In a special way. And I guess loves it. On the personal front she is a woman who is driven by the moment, completely governed by the moment. A moment frozen in a particular time frame means everything to her. She will never sit and mourn about something, however terrible. If at 2 a.m. she feels like a walk on the beach, walk she will; or have the hotel pool which is shut for the night, opened at whatever the hour. It helps when you have the kind of talent and dynamism Gurlein does, rules automatically bend.

When made to go down memory lane I learned Gurlein's first assignment was organising the 35th wedding anniversary of Raja Dhody's parents. There was no concept of even chair covers at the time! Once she got candles from Mount Mary church and used them, giving a creative edge even to a flaw within them � they were so soft they were bending, so she went right ahead and bent them further, but in any which way and it worked! Made a dramatic difference. Like I said, mad. From then on it was roses all the way, and champagne. Her clients included the Hindujas, Singhanias, Rahejas, groups like Zee, Essar and Walchand. She was handling corporate events as varied as the Kotak Mahindra Bank opening, a welcome party for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati from J. Hampstead, a Christmas party for McKinsey, the US Independence Day celebrations for Bechtel. Her client base increased to include such giants as Hindustan Lever, Coca Cola, HSBC, Tata Telecom. As for birthday parties, she became the rage, planning and executing unique evenings from Anil Ambani's birthday party thrown by his buddy Parmeshwar Godrej to Sonia Garware's birthday bash, a Moroccan theme. Then there were various launches, of brands both national and international, be it jewellery, films, hotels, booze or even a mega movie like Veer Zahra at the Imax theatre. In addition to all this, she and her team travel to do destination weddings. To Goa, Delhi, Bhopal, Lucknow, even Dubai and Phuket.

The client base became so versatile that Gurlein became a complete wiz at unique concepts and unusual materials, 99 per cent of which she manufactures at her own factory at Andheri. Besides, she collects things, all the junk she can lay her hands on. Her two sons, Vivan and Krish, call her a 'kabadiwala'. To give an idea of how she thinks, let�s take a look at the reception of media baron, Subhas Chandra Goel's son's wedding. The theme of kitsch was explored. The use of traditional elements like puppets, marigold flowers, 'rambans', mirror 'ladis' in dialogue with modern structures like chandeliers, tall glass troughs with submerged flower arrangements, bright pink and orange table linen, suspended gel candles! With all this the Turf Club, an open air venue, was transferred into a mesmerising haven. But ask her about what has been her best output so far and the prompt reply is the Sahara wedding in Lucknow. There can never be another one on that scale, she says.

There were 15 km of just the pathway that had to be made pretty. It was a mammoth exercise that took her one-and-a-half months to just plan. This wedding surpassed all past weddings and stands as an icon in terms of scale, grandeur, opulence and sheer number of guests, one more important than the other. The objective was to create a visual experience that was intimate, romantic and warm. So two main colours were selected. Burgundy and dull gold. Gurlein used crushed silk fabric in burgundy to drape the entire ceiling of the auditorium (75,000 square feet) from which big bursts of floral arrangements were suspended. Panels of burgundy velvet and silk drapes done up in antique 'zardozi' work adorned the entire auditorium walls.

The designer stage spanned 100 feet and looked like a floral jungle. White orchids and red carnations, 500 florists worked non stop for 48 hours. The flowers were brought in from Thailand, Malaysia, China and Holland. For lights there were 2,000 wrought iron candle stands, measuring ten feet, with thousands of candles burning slowly, creating a warm glow. Subroto Roy was involved in every minute detail, says Gurlein, who operates entirely on prototypes and plans which are scaled, drawn out before hand, every little detail budgeted for, which leaves very little room for something to go wrong.

Doubt anything can go wrong with Gurlein around.

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