Royal Reception draws pan-India glitterati

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 23:

It was a Royal Reception in every sense of the term. Over a thousand guests, including more than 600 belonging to various royal families in Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and – of course – Rajasthan; a venue decked up like a bride by an agency from outside hired for the job and a ‘shahi’ (royal) menu consisting of hundreds of dishes laid out to suit every palate and culinary preference prepared by an army of 360 cooks, including two flown in all the way from Delhi.

All roads appeared to lead to the Janata Maidan in the city as Baojiraj Saheb Shriman Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar (29), son of Sriji Maharaj Arvind Singh Mewar and Her Highness Vijayraj kumari Mewar of Udaipur and Rajkumari Nivritti Kumari Singh Deo , daughter of the Maharaja KV Singh Deo of Patnagarh and Her Highness Sangeeta Singh Deo (their royal names) threw a lavish reception in the capital city on Wednesday evening.

• “It was a privilege to be part of this special event,” gushed Aswini Kar, Director at Arati Finance and Investment Co. Pvt. Limited and Principal Partner at AK Kar & Co.

The marquee guest list was a virtual who’s who of the glitterati. Among those present were BJP national president Rajnath Singh, party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani, Rajya Sabha member and ‘Pioneer’ editor Chandan Mitra, member of parliament and industrialist Naveen Jindal, union minister and scion of the Gwalior royal family Jyotiraditya Scindia, former IOA boss and MP Suresh Kalmadi and Bollywood actor Chandrachud Singh.

With a guest list like that, it was perhaps only natural that the security in and around the reception venue was of the kind reserved only for the VVIPs.

Earlier in the day, the Royal Couple threw a reception at a posh hotel on the Puri sea baech before returning to the city for the main event at Janata Maidan in the evening.

The couple was seen walking hand in hand for sometime on the Puri beach, sources said.