In New Delhi, I rang Khushwant Singh for an interview on his scotch-drinking routine. �The bar opens at 7, come over and have a drink with me,� he said, inviting us to his Sujan Singh Park residence. I am not a scotch drinker, in fact I am not a drinker of any sort, but I decided there and then that I would have the first scotch of my life with Khushwant Singh. It turned out to be an interesting evening. Mark Manuel, executive editor, who partook of it, reports (Page 126).

Mr. Singh�s scotch drinking has been one of the discoveries of the quarter. There have been several such discoveries while putting together the second issue of UpperCrust.

The inaugural issue of the magazine (January-March period) has been received with a great deal of enthusiasm, and I am grateful to the contributors, readers, subscribers and printers. Also to India Book House, the distributors, for making it available in all corners of India and a few cities abroad. The one common comment made by everybody has been: Could you bring out a second issue of equal merit? I am afraid that has not been possible - we have not been able to match the first issue, we have done better. But I leave that to you to decide.

For starters, we have entertainment on the high seas, or in the Bombay harbour, on board Swati Piramal�s Haveli Of The Sea Horse. It is an Arab dhow that she has had converted and where she hosts her parties. The last one had 23 desserts, and all made by her mother, who is a Cordon Bleu cook. And, at the other end of the line, there is breakfast with Captain Nair of Leela Hotel. A proper Kerala breakfast, with appams and stew, and not in his hotel but in his house, made by his wife, Leela.

On the cover, there is Ismail Merchant (the same). Busybee took him to lunch at Trishna (the same, in Ropewalk Lane). How much that man can eat, said Busybee afterwards. Enjoy. And we have an Eating Out with Busybee at the Sampan, the Holiday Inn�s very authentic Chinese. Plus, restaurant reviews from Paris, by Anjali Mendes, Mauritius, Bangkok, Bombay, by Anil Dharkar, Delhi, by Jiggs Kalra. The watering hole is Silly Point, The Sports Bistro, and the beer flavour of the summer is London Pilsner, naturally.

Our special supplement in this issue is Goa, nice and summery and feni-ish (last issue it was Hyderabad). We took the entire �UpperCrust� team to Goa and spent a week, discovering new places to stay and eat. It is amazing how much international food has come into Goa. Walk along the Baga Strip and you get everything from Burmese kauswe to Belgian shark fillets in garlic cream sauce and Japanese sushi. Are there people who still eat prawn balchow and bebinca pudding? Yes there are - in the grand dining hall of the Mandovi Hotel. That also is covered in this issue, making our dinner complete.

Farzana Contractor