How does it feel to be on Page 3?

Business tycoons, talented musicians, beautiful actresses, perfect socialites, designers, sports-people. The Harsh Neotias, Bikram Ghoshs, Konkona Sen Sharmas, Baichung Bhutias, Soumitra Chatterjees have found their place in newspapers, for God knows how long.
And God willing they’ll continue to do so. We’re happy for them and must admit that they make for great pictures and even more interesting reading.
But for how long? That’s the question that Page 3 has answered. With a new constituency of faces. Talented, beautiful, hardworking, down-to-earth and fun loving. The new age celebrity next door. That’s our Page 3 brigade.
But how does it feel for these people, who till three months back were cocooned in their own world, working hard and partying harder without anyone knowing of their existence beyond their five best friends. Suddenly half the city knows them and talks about them and even suggests, “I saw your picture on Page 3 today.�
“That picture on Page 3 decides how long my cellphone will be busy in the morning and how many SMS I’ll have to reply to,� said the gorgeous Davina Gorsia, the young thing who runs the fashion designing department of the family owned Bhowanipore Gujarati Educational Society College and who is our crown princess for this issue.
“It means getting lambasted by friends because I skipped a party that I may have been invited for feigning illness and got clicked at Dublin that same night,� said the always in the picture young event manager Chintu Vij.
“It’s helped me get out of the ‘he’s the spoilt brat’ tag in my locality, people around my home now know that I’m not the only guy around town who’s out partying every night of the week and then on weekend,� put in the Coffee Pai brand owner Naveen Pai. “It’s made me more talked about in my club than anyone else, it feels great,� added Barbie, who at 40 takes on 20-year-olds as dance partners and beats them at their game.
“I try to avoid the dance pictures, I wouldn’t want my coach to haul me up, but I want that picture for sure,� that’s the Mohun Bagan captain Renedy Singh. For most who’ve now got into the Page 3 circuit, the first few calls in the morning revolves around who’s where on the page and with whom. “I’m weary about partying without my wife Shipa after Page 3 started clicking me, don’t want to get caught on the wrong foot � confessed businessman Ravi Bengani.
That’s how it feels being on Page 3. Woh! To that spirit.