In the dog-eat-dog domain of fashion surfaced a camaraderie that was subtle yet strong. Sabyasachi and I were participating in the Miami Fashion Week with Rina Dhaka and Payal Singhal. Each of us intended to do our best. As soon as we arrived, we got on with our work - ironing, model selection, make-up, hair and the fittings. Later in the evening, we met at a dinner hosted by some Indians and all four of us bonded beautifully.

Time was short and like any other fashion week, pleasant chaos surrounded us, our rehearsals kept getting pushed around. I had not done my music and everyone else had. I started getting nervous. Finally, it was 'THE' day and still there were no signs of rehearsals! By now, I was walking on shaky knees. We finished our make-up and the girls started lining up. Suddenly, Sabyasachi offered to do the choreography. I thought he was joking, just to keep me from fainting out of nervousness. But I agreed on the condition that I would help him backstage on his show. Sabya's finale had the girls walking with soiled make-up and chocolate on their teeth - this made him nervous, as nobody could understand when to bring the bottle of Hershey's.

And voila! Sabya taught the girls (walking the ramp in my clothes) their formations on the carpeted floor of the backstage foyer with me doing my bit. The show started. Sabya made sure my girls entered on cue, turned and stopped as told. I could hear the applause, but I was too busy thinking about the chocolate syrup. Soon after my designer call, I scampered backstage from the ramp to help Sabya. Sabya's first girl went on the ramp. I stood close to the entry, helping each girl settle her dress, still clutching on to the bottle of Hershey's until Sabya had soaked Diana's teeth with the dribbling liquid. Phew! Finally, we did it!

I collapsed into a heap. The music of Sabya's show still boomed in my ears. The Indian designers were applauded and the show was a success. But what was most memorable was that even in this big bad over-published and much-hyped design industry, creativity and competition took a bow to camaraderie and selfless bonding.