It’s not in his style to keep guests waiting. He respects people and time too much to do that. So right on the dot of 11 am Amitabh Bachchan strode into the courtyard at the World Trade Centre, looking like a million bucks and smiling a mega 1000 watt smile. Our welcome team had cleverly changed plans and brought him in from the back door of the courtyard, through the cookery demo area. They had no choice, the place was that crowded.

The media went into a frenzy as our chief guest was invited to take a seat. Surprisingly, many of the guests too became ecstatic.  The aura that surrounds Mr. Bachchan makes even adult men go weak in the knees. The ladies simply swoon. And we are talking of an age group which divs 18 to 80!

Farzana Contractor after a brief two minute, informal welcome speech, requested Mr. Bachchan to come light the inaugural lamp, release the latest Busybee book, A Star Is Born and thereafter address the gathering. Among those present were friends, fans and admirers as well as VIPs from all walks of life. They were there in support of UpperCrust which is hailed as one of the best magazines of India. 

It took just a few seconds for a hush to descend as the superstar began to speak. And what a speech! He spoke from the heart, he spoke brilliantly, with extreme ease and enormous wit. He spoke simply and yet with passion, he talked about the world, about work, what it means, people, integrity, honesty, and also gave Farzana Contractor tips on how to keep the competition guessing, and more importantly how to shut them up – by being successful at whatever you do! Hear, hear.

There were many in the audience who knew Mr. Bachchan personally and so there was a wonderful camaraderie prevalent in the air. The media was completely charmed by his genuinely warm and happy interaction and hardly let him move away to go upstairs to cut the ribbon at the Expo Centre, where the main show was – hundred stalls exhibiting a thousand products. Food, wine, kitchen gadgets  and equipment.

Once he did manage to do that, he was flummoxed. He looked at Farzana  incredulously and went, “What is this, my God!” And from then on he was gay abandon. Tasting, trying, enquiring, discussing, and then becoming a little boy in a stall specially there because all at the UpperCrust office are such dog lovers:  a dog stall. Rows and rows of dog food, dog toys, even a tiny machine which embosses your dogs name on a metal tag.

The look of delight on the great Amitabh Bachchan’s face as he burrowed into the colourful packets was worth recording for posterity. Sanjay, the dog groomer whose stall it was went speechless, so mesmerized was he. Mr. Bachchan explained his excitement… he couldn’t remember when was it that he last bought something for his dog. Here was his chance and he kept picking up goodies till he had two bags full.  Suddenly he went white. Blinking through his glasses and  patting his trouser pockets, looking embarassed he whispered he had no money on him! That was cause for mirth, like as if we’d let him pay at our Show! We learnt Mr Bachchan’s dog, a Great Dane is called Shanouk. In Arabic it means, ‘a cool desert wind.’ 

Inshy Contractor, our little Lhasa who was patiently waiting by his car, to re-acquaint herself with him, had Amitabh Bachchan ruffle her pretty black tresses as he jumped into the Lexus that drove him away.

A pretty young thing, looked at Inshy, raised her eyebrows and said, “What’s she got, that we don’t!” Meow, she’s got a sexy bark.

And so the UpperCrust Show was inaugurated and the doors thrown open to the public for the 5th consecutive year. Guests after feasting to their hearts delight on a heavy breakfast laid out by F &B team of  The Leela, settled down to watch the first cookery demonstration in the bright and happy courtyard while many others went right away to the Expo Centre to check it out before the hall got so crowded they wouldn’t be able to move.

The courtyard started to buzz as Chef Gev Desai, of ITC Grand Maratha, cooked some low calorie, Continental fare. He made minimum use of oil which these days is what everybody aspires to do.  "The thinner the slices, the faster they cook without burning the spices.” Chef Gev informed Asha Khatau, next on schedule, got  rapt attention  from those present at her demo.  The  sangria passed around was much appreciated and to the delight of the audience she stirred up some fantastic Spanish tapas. "It is not at all difficult to cook, simple Spanish stuff. It is healthy as well as tasty," she informed.

The next day began with Chhaya Arya, owner of Chetana at Kala Ghoda and her maharaj cooking some popular  Rajasthani dishes. Dal Batti, Gatte ka Pulao and Dal Panchamel.

Soon it was time for some Italian cooking. Chef Maximiliano Cotilli of The Leela got behind the live kitchen and stirred up a delightful risotto and some   shrimps. Everyone took to this affable chef even before the food reached their stomachs, his charm was so infectious.

Coming all the way from Israel was 26 year old Avi Biton owner and chef of Adora in Tel Aviv. The lovely Liora Zonshine - wife of Danny the Consul General of Israel in Bombay, assisted Avi and the two together impressed the audience with their fine culinary skills.

The third day paved the way for the well known actor, Smita Jayakar, who made her first public debut in a demo kitchen specially for the UpperCrust Show. Very endearingly she took the audience through the homely way of cooking fish and prawns the Maharashtrian way. 

Chef Hao Quan and Chef Joy Bhattacharya tossed and stirred in impeccable style, recipes from India Jones at The Hilton. They stir fried pomfret in black pepper sauce and wok tossed vegetables in black bean sauce.
After all the cookery demos, it was time for the Great Grape Crushing. It’s the icing on the cake, something everybody was looking forward to. The editor of UpperCrust stepped into the huge vat amidst a lot of cheering and David Benford, President of the Wine Society Of India followed suit after carefully removing his red socks. Champagne bottles were popped open and the aam janata joined in the revelry. Young and old alike stomped away, helped make some wine. When asked how she felt in the vat, Farzana Contractor replied, “Great, nothing like a wine pedicure”.

With olive oil becoming increasingly popular with Indians, it was only logical to see that Chef Sanjeev Kapoor was ready with a recipe book. Farzana Contractor and Franco Oliva released Best of India- Cooking with Olive Oil.

Even as all the chefs took centre stage at the courtyard, the Expo Centre played host to some stimulating talks and workshops. Narayanan Rajgopalan spoke on the goodness of Canola oil, it’s good for the heart, he said. Shatbhi Basu’s cocktails demo was very popular. Founder of India's first bartending academy, STIR, Shatbhi knows everything there is about bartending. Her young assistants poured and shook and served the audience the perfect concoctions.

Kainaz Messman, of Theobroma  was so good she earned herself some brownie point from the chocoholics  On demo were karaque’s, tarts and choco chip cookies. She mixed Turkish hazelnuts in molten chocolate to produce some sinful stuff.

Busi Kuzwayo, Consul General of South Africa took an eager audience on a virtual trip to South Africa with a short audio visual film which showed the beauty of the place, animals and all! The talk ended with five young South Africans teaching the audience how to jig!

When it was time for Dr. Nirmala Shetty to speak, she had people eating out of her hands. Her knowledge and vast experience in beauty treatments was apparent. She demonstrated ways of maintaining one's looks the natural way, with fruits, vegetables and grains. A much better option to chemical laden, animal tested cosmetics.

Naini Setalvad’s short and highly informative talk about oils was much needed “Not all oils are bad. The body needs a certain amount of oil so we must not disregard that factor when we do diet,” she elucidated.
What good is a food and wine show without a workshop on fine dining? So in came our very special guest for the evening, Chhaya Momaya, to throw some light upon the same. She talked about etiquette and the subtle rules we ought to follow when dining out. "You must never lay your napkin down on your lap, the waiter will do it for you" she said.

Prahlad Kakkar was kept for the finale. His talk on 'The Good Life' managed to capture the listeners' imagination and transport them into a world of maharajas, elephants and experimental cooking. He guided the men in the audience, “You can get the best chicks by cooking for them that’s how I got my wife to marry me!” he chuckled merrily.

While all these workshops went on Simone Tata quietly walked around the 25,000 square feet area of the Expo Centre, judging the best stalls. She picked one among each category: food, wine and style. And the winners: R.R. Oomerbhoy Pvt. Ltd, United Spirits Ltd. and Manav’s Marvel.