What’s in a name? I would say, ‘a lot’! If you don’t believe me, take the case of famous NRI couple (now estranged) – Meera and Vikram Gandhi. The couple divorced in February 2015. Vikram was a successful banker and Meera was New York’s ‘lunching lady’ who also did charitable work under her ‘The Giving Back Foundation’. Post divorce, Meera became the sole owner of the tony townhouse on the Upper East Side of NYC, now famously knowns as the Eleanor Roosevelt House and that added to her ‘social charm’. Divorce in America makes the husband poor. Anyway Vikram Gandhi did not become poor but he moved to Delhi into their Amrita Shergill Marg bungalow and took to philanthropy and founded ‘Asha Impact’.
Coming back to “what’s in a name”. Vikram Gandhi’s ASHA (hope) turned to NIRAASHA (despair) when Meera Gandhi did not GIVE-IN to his persistent request of getting back together. ASHA IMPACT founder, Vikram Gandhi failed to get back with his former wife, THE GIVING BACK FOUNDATION CEO, Meera Gandhi refused to give-in to former hubby’s plea. In fact Meera Gandhi herself shared this information with her Mumbai based friends that, ‘Vikram gets drunk every night and calls me and wants to get back’. Meera loves to be written about and for that she calls her friendly scribes and provides gossipy juice. At times she shares untruth that few ignorant Indian journalists take it at face value and publish it.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to US in 2015, Meera Gandhi told ET Panache that she hosted a private dinner for PM Modi and select few top achiever at Pierre Hotel post Modi ji’s Madison Square Garden address. She was not the host, which she herself stated in Deccan Chronicle – “When PM Modi was in NY, I was privileged to attend a private dinner at The Pierre Hotel in NYC hosted by the Ambassador to the USA and the Counsel-General to the USA, Ambassador Mulay.” Meera Gandhi is a social butterfly and post her divorce to Vikram Gandhi, she is wealthier and enjoying her freedom.
Vikram Gandhi is doing philanthropic work. He hasn’t found a girlfriend yet. Recently Acumen, a global non-profit investment organisation focused on poverty issues, has partnered with Vikram Gandhi, founder of Asha Impact platform to invest $2.5 million in biomass cooking stove maker Greenway Appliances.