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Lighting up with `Faraway Trees'

Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA, Nov. 3

A NOTED film director had once described her face as the picture of desolation. Yet there she was, gliding in and out of the `Willow and Birch Hall' of a city hotel, lighting up lives.

And raising funds for a cause in the process. By the second day of her three-day exhibition entitled `Life is Beautiful', Dimple Kapadia had sold designer candles worth over Rs 9 lakh, according to Maneka Gandhi, Chairperson of People for Animals.

Information available with Business Line suggested that the figureisstillclimbing and is headed for an all-India record aheadof New Delhi when Rs 15 lakh worth of candles were sold.

Her characteristic auburn hair cascading down her face, Kapadia trotted about in an absolute no-nonsense style, helping her clients choose their wares. Looking for a particular colour combination of a candle? No luck!`` I make only what I like``, is the brusque answer. The lady clearly knows that she is in a seller's market.

And the city's money bags were present in good number to prove her right. Are they selling well ? "See for yourself", said a beaming Maneka Gandhi, standing tall at the entrance of the crowded exhibition hall. You would have thought banned Diwali cracker s were being sold. The proceeds from this exposition, will go towards building Ashari, a hospital for animals. She said that this project, being handled by PFA, would help set up the city's first animal hospital.

Kapadia's range was expansive — starting from floaters for Rs 200 a piece there were huge blocks of single-piece candles for Rs 5,000 and tall glass vases filled with artificial flowers, lace and a floater at the top. "You can also put fresh flower s in them and see the magic,'' quipped Kapadia, who had taken to this avocation, along with her daughters around two years back. This was her launch in the city with the timing proving just right for the purchases. An enthused Kapadia is believed to be c ontemplating another trip around Diwali to the city.

Even as their partners whispered among themselves — "there is Dimple''. . .the women filled their wicker baskets with perfumed and spangled candles in fancy glass jars, daintily handling the long stemmed wine glasses, filled with wax or gel, even a s Dimple lit up one, spreading an aura.

The Kama collection of jewellery by New Delhi's Guptasons Jewellers, also on view at the exhibition had the status of an also ran. Few had time for that counter after having an eye full of one of Bollywood's most enigmatic actresses and the Faraway Trees — the brand of her candles.

As for Maneka Gandhi, ( whose fellow crusaders working under the same banner include M.F. Hussain, Mario Miranda and Anupam Kher), — some visitors dropped in just to get her advice on how to care for the stray animals of her locality. The show as well as Dimple's hospitality was by the Park Hotel-owned by the Apeejay Surrendra group.

Pic.: Actress Dimple Kapadia with her designer candles in Kolkata.