It was the wall of photographers that did it. A veritable ambush that we had little expected. But then, the calls had started mid morning, at the Verve office, inquiring whether Elizabeth Hurley, our March cover girl who had just taken the stands by storm, would be attending Verve's 10th Anniversary and Lakme Fashion Week opening party at the Regal Room, Hilton Towers, in Mumbai, that evening. Well, it was for the press to deduce (admittedly, they had done their homework and discovered that the face of Estée Lauder and former supermodel was indeed frolicking in town) and for us to refuse but it did not stop the shutter-happy battalion from thronging.

Well, actually, she did make it. In a clingy, plunging, blue Versace dress that engloved her to perfection, beau, Arun Nayar, leading her gently on. A silent backdoor entry, an anteroom laden with the Moët & Chandon bubbly and white flowers, ubiquitous security guards and careful planning were stormed by the crush of paparazzi. Hurley, who has thus far remained in the personal shadows of the city's glitterati and stuck to low profile, high-voltage private soirées, hit the morning news, looking somewhat bewildered, even as the last of our invitees were trundling home at dawn. The price of popularity, what? And of course, 'That Body'! (Check out our March-April issue if you have not done so already.)

Fashion Week has never had such a start up - at least we think so! Everyone who is oh-so-Verve was there and revved - clinking champagne glasses, downing blood red Cosmopolitans, sipping at cool Belvedere Citrus or Belvedere Pomerancza laced Martinis and imbibing delightful local wines from Sula Vineyards. As DJ Aqueel Ali's remixes (admittedly there were those who were begging for retro rock) throbbed through the night, Verve editor and publisher, Anuradha Mahindra and industrialist hubby, Anand Mahindra, could not help but leave their formal positions at the welcoming door to shake a leg with radiant corporate wife, Nita Ambani, in a stunning black and silver ensemble. Earlier, Ambani had graciously presented a cheque on behalf of Verve, to Nanhi Kali, the NGO that cares about and educates the girl child. (We decided that someone should benefit from our having turned a venerable 10, especially since co-sponsors Kotak-Mahindra had reminded us aptly in their invite that 'Money never goes out of fashion'. IMG's Ravi Krishnan unveiled our hot new cover and was immediately voted 'Verve Man' by the entire team. And for those who had built up an appetite on the floor, the buffet opened up with a handy, non-intrusive selection of kebobs, tartlets, risotto and a selection of salads for the calorie counters and an array of desserts for the unconcerned.

And they all slowly poured in. Reticent industrialist, Adi Godrej walked in early without his stunning other half, Parmeshwar Godrej, who was nursing a bad back. Lakme head honcho, Anil Chopra and Sabina Chopra; designers like Manish Malhotra, Falguni and Shane Peacock, Wendell Rodricks and Narendra Kumar Ahmed; artists, Jaideep Malhotra and Kahini Arte Merchant; representatives of the electronic media (check out Style.com for some Lakme Fashion Week snippets and more on the Verve party); Bollywood directors, Karan Johar and Ashutosh Gowariker; Suniel and Mana Shetty, surrounded in a corner; actors Gulshan Grover and Kirron Kher; standup comic, Ash Chandler with Suman Ranganathan and Reshma Bombaywala; Parle heiress, Schauna Chauhan-Saluja and actor-husband Bikram Saluja; photographer, Atul Kasbekar; industrialist, Yash Birla and Avanti Birla; Atulya Mafatlal; politician, Milind Deora. And the city's glam gals who make Mumbai soirées so special with their particular sense of style - model Nina Manuel and Simone Singh, Kamal Sidhu, Tara Sharma, Nandita Mahtani, Sonia Garware...

And, of course, all our writers, contributors, photographers whom we cannot party without, jiving to the strains of happy chatter, glasses clinking and general merrymaking. And it was past 4 a.m. when the last guests wound their way home, with their goody bags created especially for us by Meera Mahadevia and laden with Gaultier perfumes and of course - the much-awaited copies of Verve.