Walking into Tetsuma’s wood panelled and softly hued space in Colaba, Mumbai, the stage was set for the Verve’s Debutante Issue party on March 12. As the eclectic audience mingled over the flavourful wasabi rock shrimp and Tiger Hill white wine, radio jockey Rohini Ramnathan stepped up to introduce her fellow debutantes featured in the March Fresh List . Sophomore Rhys D’Souza balancing academics with social dos, led the way with syncopated tunes on his saxophone. In a marvellous display of aesthetic confluence, Revanta Sarabhai joined in mid-session with a sensuous dance. The audience fanned out over the restaurant, giving the performers some room. Some lined the bar, while others settled on the floor; some took to the couches and others just stood in awe at the awesome improvisation that was taking place. Alisha Batth had us mesmerised, as she strummed her folksy renditions of I’m Not an Addict and Hallelujah among other unique covers, offering a glimpse of talents that we’ll soon see more of. Cognoscenti like Samantha and Nikki Nayar were seen moseying around. Lilette Dubey, Dominique Nellens, Kieron Hegde, and Gurpreet and Vikram Mehta were as much in awe of the GenNext performers as the rest of us.

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