The French didn’t quite know what had hit them. The Cartier evening with India-as-theme had begun typically enough in the rather grand, red-hued Casino in Deauville, the Normandy beach resort that is the playground of the rich and famous – both arrived and arriving – from Paris and elsewhere. You know, exotica India with an elephant sculpted out of shrubs, huge, grainy photographs of bejewelled erstwhile maharajas and their maharanis hanging from the high ceiling and something that approximated Indian food. And yes, a continuously running film with models wearing exquisite clothes and jewellery fit for our royalty.

Now, in cocktail receptions where the crowd is predominantly French, the tables groaning with food are the intense focus of attention, often the only focus. And that crisp late October evening – the penultimate day of the fourth edition of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society – was no different. Champagne flowed like the Thames at high tide, the little tikkas were gulped down avariciously and the conversation, in a room so crowded you couldn’t see your own feet, maintained a steady, drone-like buzz. The raison d’être of social gatherings during forums like this one – it was intended to be a Davos (World Economic Forum, in Switzerland) for women, but more of that later – is to either network or brainstorm.

Bollywood reigns
But when the rather raucous Kajra Re number unexpectedly – and rather loudly – filled the air and two dozen Indian women of all sizes and ages in blazing silks began to swivel their hips with abandon and emulate Aishwarya Rai in the unforgettable number from Bunty aur Babli, the cocktail chatter suddenly came to a stop. Several brave women delegates from many countries even joined in, exulting in this burst of Indian joie de vivre, spearheaded by a spirited and dressed-to-kill Shobhaa De.

Deauville is decidedly Hollywood territory: the festival of American films is held here each year and the changing cabins on its beach are named after American film stars. Even the suites in the sumptuous Royale Barriere Hotel where we stayed had names from the Hollywood pantheon: ‘Micky Rourke’ (Palm d’Or winner at Cannes this year) was next to my room. Ironically, the room in the forum venue where the session on Women as Agents of Progress was scheduled was called James Bond, the debonair spy who seduced as many women as he dispatched baddies to their deaths – both activities with equal flair.

But that night Bollywood reigned: those grainy ‘maharajas’ were mere backdrops. Among those energetically throwing reticence to the winds and getting into Bollywood-mode was Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, the imposingly tall founder and president of the forum. The sporting Magaret Alva, Secretary General of the Congress Party, didn’t need much coaxing to join in the short spurt of revelry. The chattering Indian contingent composed of entrepreneurs, supreme court lawyers, social workers, technocrats, philanthropists, educationists, the ladies from computer-land, even the lanky sheriff of Mumbai and scientists certainly demonstrated that the desis knew how to be simultaneously bindaas and network: handing out calling cards with the alacrity of croupiers dealing out cards.

India was, in fact, the focus of the packed and increasingly vibrant three-day Deauville Forum. It was China last year. The Indians were a bit of an appetiser – trailer if you like, this time – there are plans to hold the Deauville Forum in India in two years. Fittingly, Indians came away with two coveted laurels in Deauville. Basha, an Ahmedabad-based NGO won the Women in Education award, gracefully received by Surekha Devi. And Mona S Jhaveri, an Indian-American entrepreneur whose project aims at improving the detection and treatment of ovarian cancer, was one of the five women selected for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. The Cartier awards are an international business supported by consulting firm McKinsey and Company and INSEAD business school.

To return to Davos and origins of the DF: when Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, a French businesswoman, applied to attend Davos a few years ago she did not even get the courtesy of a reply. Miffed, she created this forum (a private company) as a more ‘female-friendly analogue’ to Davos. A few good men, however, were allowed into this ‘global talkathon’ brimming over with about 1,200 delegates brainstorming over how to get the world out of the mess it was now in. The current global financial crisis loomed large over the panel discussions that gravitated towards what, indeed, constituted progress and the role of diversity in a rapidly morphing world – both in the corporate world and in international forums.

Enter The Wonder Woman
Deauville was certainly no strident feminist fest, even though the message that beeped out was that men had made the mess and it was now time for women to come in and clean it up. The new message was: men and women had to put their heads together to find a way out of the current labyrinth and most definitely include those from less privileged backgrounds and countries onto the high tables of problem-solving.

But that wasn’t all. Feminism was being re-wired. The new feminism appeared to be about mentoring and bridging the generational gap. It wasn’t just a call for an end to the battle of the sexes: the battle between generations had to stop. Women at the top of the ladders of success had to pull up those struggling on the lower rungs. Funnily enough, there’s a word for this that I recently came across in an article by Erica Jong in the American magazine, More: generativity. Erik Erikson, the psychiatrist-writer, who coined the word, had described it as the ‘process of giving up your narcissism and developing empathy for the next generation’. In Jong’s inimitable words: ‘Mentoring is almost as good as being cute and young…it’s almost as good as sex’. She would rather be ‘sexy like Simone Signoret or Anna Magnanani, not Paris Hilton’.

Sexy at 60 was an empowering thought. It was all about bringing out the Wonder Woman in you. And, there can be no better emissary for this message than fashion designer Diane Van Furstenberg who hosted a lunch session and talked about the need for constant reinvention. The feisty lady who has had many incarnations in one life has also brought out a slim graphic book, Be the Wonder Woman You Can Be…Featuring the Adventures of Diva, Viva and Fifa. In other words unleash the wonder woman in you.

It was in the fitness of things that the goodie bags we were given contained all kinds of ‘uplifting’ creams from Lancôme and Helena Rubenstein. Never mind if some of the Kajra Re ladies were only treading their 30s.

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