Remember that cheesy voice from celebrity TV show The Fabulous Life Of? You’d have to hire it to go along on your vacation if you book a holiday with Rich n Famous, a new super-luxe travel boutique that can build you a private jet made out of real papier mache money. Okay not really, but their list of services comes close.

Shiny Happy People

Aside from the terrible moniker and cheesy tag line (‘you dream, we fulfill’), the people over at Rich n Famous are a competent bunch, interviewing you for your likes and dislikes in order to plan the perfect trip, one that involves fat frills like private jets and yachts for two.

Pick one of their pre-planned packages – they don’t book hotels that have less than four stars - and you could be learning how to cook empanadas in a Buenos Aires mansion, swimming with sea lions in Mexico and kite surfing in Kenya. But if you’d rather cook a sea lion in Kenya while kite surfing in Buenos Aires, they’ll try their best to arrange it. And by this we mean that Rich n Famous can customise and tweak tours depending on your very demanding needs.

What’s the Plan?

They may be just a month old, but they’ve already planned some pretty impressive trips, including a private sand dune soiree in Dubai and a golfing trip in Hurghada, Egypt. At Rich n Famous they even do special tours for small groups, which sounds like a fun service for bachelors and bachelorettes looking to drink their wedding funds away. Viva Las Vegas! The company’s based out of Delhi, but they work with clients all over India to plan trips over phone and email.

So us Scouters are planning a Turkey trip next month, and dreaming about all the fairy dust they could sprinkle on our holiday. As we launch into fantasies of ridiculously lavish sea-side resorts in Bodrum populated with pretty folk, we smile and a gold tooth sparkles, and from out of nowhere, a voice declares our lives “fabulous!”

Getting there: Rich n Famous, call 011-41374137 or visit the website, price depends on package.

Where does Colaba’s hip cafe get its lamps from? How can you re-create the new city bookstore’s vintage shelves in your room? Trying to trace your favourite restaurant’s outsourced cheesecake? In this new column, bpb gets Mumbai’s most delicious establishments to share their supply list, taking you to the source of everything they own and order, from organic produce to custom-made chairs.

This Week’s Supply List From: Leaping Windows Cafe and Comic Library

This geek-chic cafe in Andheri (W) with an attached comic book library and reading room is easily one of the most fun spaces in Mumbai (View the slideshow here). Co-owner Bidisha Basu opens up her supply list for you.

Graphics, Art Work and Logo: Delhi-based Koel Chatterjee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), also the third partner at Leaping Windows, has done the cool wall graphics, logo and signage for Leaping Windows. Also, artist Kailash Iyer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) did some of the art for the reading room and Arpita Chatterjee ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) who paints on anything that looks fun, did our lamps.

Branding and Marketing: Vikram Sood from And Then (http://www.andthen.co.in) heard a lot of our crazy ideas, brainstormed over the space and most importantly, got us in touch with Babul (see below)! A good person to hit up for branding, strategy and over the top marketing ideas.

Board for Daily Specials: Vikram Sood also gave us a really useful tip- to use blackboard paint for a cooler effect. Any surface can be painted with the blackboard paint to give a smooth slate-like finish, on which you can write with chalk. At the cafe, the bathroom wall near the entrance doubles up as our daily specials board. Blackboard paint is easily available at all paint shops.

Coffee Machine and Other Equipment: Our coffee machine came from ID Gourmet at Kemp’s Corner (http://www.id-gourmet.com/). They have a ton of fancy imported coffee beans and accessories, plus the coolest ice-cream makers. Other equipment and electronics like a big fridge, microwave, air conditioner and electric cooker was bought from Praveen bhai at Sur Sangam (Jogeshwari East, near the station, 28374668). If you’re nice and keep going back to him, he can be persuaded to let you pay in installments.

Contractor: Babul took care of everything from building a bathroom to painting, polishing and building the furniture. Call 8268391838.

Stickers and Sationery: Vikas printed out our transparent vinyl wall graphic, posters, and flyers. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Electric Work: Harish is a super electrician. Call 9820858952.

Furniture: We bought all our chairs second hand from the furniture market on SV Road, near Jogeshwari station at great prices and then re-polished and re-upholstered them. Cushion material from Manish Market in Andheri and Poorvi, a fabric store next to the Seven Bungalows Birdy’s outlet.

So you’re calling a company’s board line and you’ve been put on hold forever, listening to an instrumental rendition of Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You, unknowingly singing the words, only to have the song stuck in your head all day. Hold me now, touch me now...kill me now?

‘Here lies a bpb reader, who ended his/her life over a lame phone response system.’ If you had other words planned for your epitaph, get above mentioned company with bad hold tune to get in touch with The Big Sneeze. This is a new creative services firm that among other things, creates phone hold tunes in collaboration with hip rock musicians. They’ll probably be able to help with writing that epitaph too.

Cold Play

The Big Sneeze was started by Gayatri Pahlajani, a Colaba resident who goes by the title Chief Sneeze, mainly because she can “give you something to sneeze about.” Now what degrees and work experience would you need to have a designation like that? How about an MSc in Gender and Media from the London School of Economics (LSE), and several creative stints involving radio, print and publishing for brands like MTV, Hit 95 FM and The Sunday Observer.

The Big Sneeze has three divisions: a writing cell, a sound department called VOBO and a production division that’s yet to take off. Under the first, Gayatri provides content solutions for individuals looking for copy and more interestingly, ghost writes books for clients. (Katherine) Boo! While ghost writers are required to be discreet about the books they’ve written – she prefers “shrouded in mystery” – we’ve peeked at her resume to know that she’s worked with some of the top publishing houses in the country. If you need to meet with Gayatri for more information, you’ll probably find her at the “David Sassoon library which smells like garbage or the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (INOX) which takes all my money”.

What: Local Banya - online supermarket, shop at www.localbanya.com, minimum order of Rs 500, free next-day home delivery anywhere in Mumbai, cash on delivery only.

Why: Following a van with a fat grocer on it, led us to this newly launched website that home delivers everything from condoms and insect repellant to apples and liquid soap. Great for the time-pressed, this online supermarket’s e-shelves feature fruits and veggies (sourced fresh every morning), personal care and household supplies that are discounted at up to 40 %. Interestingly, you can choose what time you’d like your order to be delivered from the different time slots available and pay cash on delivery. Tres convenient!

When: You want to create a new supply chain of command.

A man needs to get in touch with aquatically-inclined simian using the pool at the Breach Candy Club, in an “official capacity”. A dog living in a high rise apartment needs access to astro turf. A woman in Bombay wants fresh blueberries and another, a dressing table that looks like this.

Concierge India has sourced all of the above. Launched just last week, this free Pan-India service operates only through Facebook and email, helping people track down things they’ve seen abroad, on the internet, in a magazine and on Pinterest (send them a picture reference), but don’t know how to find it in India. Best photo-op ever!

Search History

Its founders are two thirty something-year-olds who prefer to be anonymous because they want the service to speak for itself. “The best concierges and valets are those who stay below the radar,” they told us over an email interview. Is that why they found a vendor who could ship these mad-awesome invisible shoes to India?

The idea for Concierge India came to them because they noticed that a lot of Indians still go West to buy certain supplies - rare wine, academic books, designer stash. “We wanted to fix that,” they say. In fact, when the two of them moved back to Mumbai after studying abroad, good cheese and quick drying nail polish was sorely missed. In this endeavor, they’ve spread their network to cover global searches and also help coordinate shipping from the US.

What: Soulphool florist, visit www.soulphool.com or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Rs 560 for a Tropical Bloom Bouquet.

Why: Out with Facebook notifications and in with Soulphool’s birthday reminders. This online florist allows you to pre-book flowers for the entire year, ensuring that their best blooms reach your best buds, irrespective of that rusty memory. Soulphool - run by a company that exports flowers to Europe and Japan – features pretty, pricey bouquets and fresh-from-the-garden harvests, but also cheesy lines like “nature laughs in flowers.” Phools!

When: You want to visit the Garden of e-den.

What: Nightcall: after-party booze and cigarette home delivery service, call 9820794523, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or tweet @nightcall_in, visit www.nightcall.in, delivery from Cuffe Parade to VT only, Rs 40 for 5 cigarettes plus a flat Rs 50 delivery charge.

Why: Kaiser and Rohit could be South Mumbai’s new Avengers, saving your after-party pangs from shutters down. Call/tweet/email them – on weekends only from 11 pm to 4 am – after your neighbourhood bar shuts, and the 26 year-olds promise to deliver booze, cigarettes, mixers and chips (see menu here) to your home within 20 minutes. Place your Hulk order now. Geographical expansion, coming soon.

When: Your night needs shining armour from Friday to Sunday, 11 pm to 4 am.

What: Crazy plant installations by S.E.E.D, call Simrit Malhi on 09320606012, view the Facebook group here or visit http://maaliwalli.tumblr.com, start at Rs 3,000.

Why: Have you seen the leaflet yet? Plant artist and reviewer of eco hotels in South East Asia, Simrit provides mad garden solutions that include putting organic plants in oil drums, electric meters, robots and old Onida TVs. For soil sample see outside section at Colaba store Bombay Electric, that’s been greened by this “maaliwalli”. The S.E.E.D fund also offers landscaping services, custom-built garden accessories and terrariums where wild plants take over little Lego towns. Shyamalan would be proud.

When: Your garden needs to grow up.

What: Travel Ninjas - vacations planned by experts, view the website here, start at Rs 1,250 for 30 days of planning and research.

Why: Dull summer holidays will get their a** kicked by the Travel Ninjas, a panel of professional gadabouts - travel book writers, bloggers, conservationists and photographers – who plan cool vacations for a reasonable sum. They make tall promises like introducing you to storytellers who’ll turn into friends, procuring cheap Broadway tickets, hoisting you up into a tree, and assure a refund if they can’t deliver. You can interact with your Ninja of choices over the phone, email, chat and Skype. Is that a ‘hi’ or ‘haiya’ we just heard?

When: You need a new planning commission report.

Ryan Abraham doesn’t have a butler called Alfred and on most occasions, he knows that the underwear goes below the pants. But he still calls himself a vigilante, one who looks out for your idea and does everything he can to keep it from landing up in a box.

And in order to “out-think the box”, the ad man (with over 15 years of experience in agencies like Lintas and Triton) co-founded Vigilante along with Nikhil Contractor, an idea collective that is a consortium of companies, each bringing their own talent to the pool. So at their plush 2,500 square feet Bandra space, you’ll find that a bunch of organisations including an ad firm, digital, design, event and PR agencies, and social impact company co-exist in a community office. While they also function individually, no walls and cabins mean they’re like a well-oiled machine, ready to collaborate on projects when required. Holy hot desking, Batman!