Inside Info

If Lokhandwala is seen as a microcosm of Mumbai city, the Garden should well epitomise the media industry. Let alone gossip and scandal, you’d also find hard news breaking here – political scoops, corporate leaks, murder, inside trading information, product launches… Long before the papers can even get a whiff of the story, it would have been discussed and analysed threadbare on the sidelines of the exercises.
Take the case of the Arun Tikku murder at Lokhandwala, currently hogging headlines. The papers and TV got cracking on the story just yesterday (Monday), but Santosh Tyagi (below, left) had already got the news on Saturday itself when she found cops swarming her building compound. She happens to reside in Samarth Aangan complex where the murder took place.
Obviously (as any news reporter would say) being at the right place at the right time has its advantages. But not for Ved Prakash Grover (right). A quiet and peaceful person, he has often to answer peculiar questions in the Garden on (of all the people), Rakhi Sawant – simply because she is his neighbour in Serenity Complex. The 'drama queen' is a known publicity monger and poor Grover has to explain to us her actions, as though he is responsible for her.
But then, many of our members have also learnt when to open their mouths and when to shut up. For instance, when film actor Shiney Ahuja was caught with his pants down some time back, those who stay in the vicinity (Tarapore Towers) maintained a dignified silence. Once the heat was off, they all started coming out with “inside information”, one more colorful than the other, on whether the man was guilty of raping his maid. Clearly, they understand that timing also matters.