Last March, new bride and LA-based influencer Alanna Panday (she has 1.6 million followers on Insta but is also known as Ananya Panday’s cousin and Chunky Panday’s niece) had posted a message for husband Ivor, “I can’t wait to start a family with you.” One year later, she was back in Mumbai to celebrate her baby shower — Ivor Junior is expected this July.

There are two reasons why the blue-and-white themed baby shower will be personally unforgettable. One is emotional, the other dramatic.

Emotional because I knew her mom and fitness expert Deanne when she was six months pregnant with Alanna. To pose with Alanna in the same pregnant state as her mother was like a home movie unspooling over generations.

Only uncle Chunky was away shooting in Rajasthan. Otherwise, the spirits were high as all of Deanne’s friends and family partied with the ecstatic parents-to-be. Bipasha Basu in white and Karan Grover in blue were like all parents who step out with their infant — a nanny and a baby bag with baby paraphernalia accompanied them. “She loves books,” said a proud Bipasha. Not the baby ones that have pop-up pictures and music. “I read to her from normal, printed books every single day and she loves it. 24/7, there’s nothing else but Devi in my life.”

I’d just chatted with Bobby Deol, still with his luxuriant Animal beard, joked with Ivor that I was among the oldest in the house (though Helen and Salman’s mom Salma, who were also around, beat me to it by over a decade), and was on the verge of exiting when the second unforgettable reason, the dramatic one, happened. I missed a step and went flying, taking with me a side table with lovely blue-n-white glassware that Deanne had done up the entrance with. I looked up to find Bobby and others peering down curiously. Fortunately, except for hurting my pride for making a spectacle of myself, I was none the worse for the spread-eagle sprawl.

Alanna’s younger brother Ahaan, on the verge of making his debut in an action romance with YRF, was despatched by his dad Chikki to escort me to the car. One enduring visual was that of Aditya Roy Kapur, who’d chivalrously picked up my handbag and had held on to it until he was sure I was fine and on my feet. Once he knew all was well, he wickedly suggested that a shot of vodka might help steady the rattled nerves. That evening, I got a glimpse of why the handsome Night Manager is such a big hit with young girls.

PS: I’m told glass breaking is good luck for the baby and his family.

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“Porn star”. “What’s the going rate?” Irrespective of affiliations, with the outbreak of the all-party affliction of calling actresses various versions of “naachne-gaanewali”, the electoral season is in full swing. While offensive remarks need reprimand, it would be even cruder to amplify any of them to score a brownie point. Hopefully, Kangana Ranaut, the one in the spotlight this week, will talk more about coming home to Himachal. Apart from building her sprawling 7,000 sqft bungalow in her home state, work on the interiors of Kangana’s restaurant has been in full swing for a few months now.

Shabnam Gupta, who gave elegantly bold grey and white colours to the bungalow, has been busy doing up the restaurant too. One thing Kangana has always been sure of — she’s going to serve and popularise Himachali cuisine.

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Here’s a Calcutta connection. Om Puri’s wife Nandita Puri has done a role in the film Yes Papa, released on Friday. She plays a mother who looks the other way while her husband subjects their daughter to years of sexual abuse. Calcutta is recalled because Nandita’s love story with Om had started when he was shooting for City Of Joy. She had gone as a journalist to interview him and had come out with a scoop — on herself and Om.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author