Bipin Bhiwandkar
and Chayya Rajpurkar, who had lost their respective partners, met in
the Club, and love bloomed! Though it was almost 'Love at First Sight'
for Mr Bhiwandkar, it took some time for Mrs Rajpurkar to come out of
her societal restrictions. Finally, with the blessings and cooperation
of their grown-up children, they tied the knot on 4 July, clubbing it
with the date of freedom in the US. |
| 3) ESSAY COMPETITION - 30th June 2006 |
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Members want some competition
to participate in. When the Essay competition was announced, about
20 members participated and we had beautiful dreams and thoughts
on paper. The topic for the competition was "A Dream at Dawn" and
it was held in English, Marathi and Gujrati. |
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| 4) FANCY DRESS COMPETITION AT THE CHAI MASTI
CLUB- 8th August 2006 |
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Members at the Chai Masti
club love activities and competitions and that's what really encourages
us to organise more and more events and competitions that would keep
the whole group lively and interested. When the idea of a fancy dress
was mooted to the members, many literally jumped at it, barring a
few who talked of inhibitions and the perennial "What will people say?" After
some convincing and assurances, they were all set for the competition.
I received a total of 25 entries!!!!!
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It had been raining cats and dogs a day before
the competition and we were greatly worried about how the competition
would shape up. It had already been postponed once from July to August.
A day before the competition, just three members had turned up at
the club.
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But on August 8 the enthusiasm had to be seen
to be believed!!! We were reminded of our school days and such competitions.The
amount of trouble the seniors had taken to dress up for the event
was commendable! We had emphasised the importance of original ideas
in the fancy dress competition. We were indeed pleasantly surprised
with all the ideas each one came up with. We had a Warkari couple,
Sai Baba, Colgate toothpaste, Kashmiri Lady, Muslim Lady in a Burkha
(audience were surprised to find a gentleman inside), A Pirate, Flower
Pot, Deity from a temple, Keep Mumbai City Clean Message Box, 'Swaraj'
Tilak, Traffic Police, A Marwari couple, Statue of Liberty..
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The toughest job was deciding the winning entry.
Full points to all participants for their effort, spirit and enthusiasm!
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Long live the spirit at the Chai Masti Club!!!!! |
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| Wakankars the winners of the Fancy
Dress - the Warkari Couple |
Rajnikant Shah, runners-up at the Fancy
Dress, Message Box "Keep Mumbai City Clean" |
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| 5) ANTAKSHARI - 28TH, 29th and 30th AUGUST
2006 |
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6 teams (2 per team) from our Chai Masti
members participated in our three day Antakshari. The Antakshari
took them back to the 60 and 70s. In the three day long Antakshari,
not only were the old Hindi numbers hummed, but there was a quiz
on Old hindi music and cricket. Three teams were eliminated on
the first 2 days, leaving 3 teams for the finals. The Senior Citizens'
passions old hindi film songs were evident with the way they fared
at the Antakshari finale. |
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| 6) FANCY DRESS COMPETITION
and ANTAKSHARI PRIZE DISTRIBUTION - 1st September 2006 |
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The prizes for the Fancy Dress Competition
and Antakshari were given by Mr.Suresh Saraiya, one of the earliest
and leading All India Radio English cricket commentators. |
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| Anarkali Velkar, Manager Chai Masti,
introduces the Chief Guest, Suresh Saraiya at the Prize Distribution |
Suresh Saraiya entertained the members
with his lively talk |
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| Hemlata Parekh, won the "Best Chai
Masti Member Award" for being the one of the oldest and most
enthusiastic member. |
Padmakar Bhiwandkar, receives the Fancy
Dress Competition Participation prize. He was the Muslim
Lady in a Burkha. |
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| Mr.Namjoshi sharing a few words about
the occasion. |
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| 7) THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL
AT THE CHAI MASTI CLUB - 7th and 8th September 2006 |
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Bridge, a game that started with just about
2 or 3 members, has now multiplied to around 25 to 30. These members,
who started learning bridge only as a hobby or a pastime, took
the game seriously under the initiative of our Foundation volunteer
member Mr.Uttam Gianani. When he volunteered to teach bridge at
the Chai Masti Club, there were only 4 members and the interest
infected everyone around and today the entire room is filled with
25 to 30 members. I am sure that Mr.Uttam Gianani must be really
happy that his efforts bore fruits.
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When we came up with
this idea of organizing a tournament for our members, at first
no one was really ready. They all said "We are all here to learn
and play Bridge only for entertainment and fun, we do not want
to play the game seriously."
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We decided to have a Bridge Festival instead
of a tournament and with time, the enthusiasm to participate in
the festival could be felt. On the 7th and 8th September 2006,
the Festival took place with 12 pairs participating. The Director
of the Festival was Dr.Krishnakumar Vahalia, who is also a member
of the Foundation and himself a National and International Bridge
Player and has also been a Director at the National Level. He too
volunteered to teach Bridge and conduct the tournament.
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Mrs. Hema Deora, who is a National and International
Bridge Player herself, inaugurated the Festival. The Awards given
away Mr.Anand Dalal, who is one of the Trustees of the Trust that
helped us start the Enrichemnt Centre. He was extremely pleased
to be see the number of activities happening at the Centre and
also be invited for the Prize Distribution.
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Mr.Uttam Gianani (left)
receiving prize from Mr.Anand Dalal (right) |
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Mr. Anand Dalal (Centre)
addressing the Members |
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Mrs.Hema Deora inaugurating
the Bridge Festival, with Dr.Vahalia,
the Director of the Festival |
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| 8) DRAWING COMPETITION - 10th August 2006 |
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Festive atmosphere around, competitions made
it even more festive. We started with the Drawing competition,
the topics being Celebrating Navratri or Diwali. Imaginative and
beautiful, pencil sketches was the outcome. It was wonderful to
see our seniors, with steady hands, come up with such beautiful
pictures. |
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| 9) RANGOLI COMPETITION
- 20th October 2006 |
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With Diwali just round the corner, we had
a Rangoli Competition and once again there was keen participation
with beautiful Rangolis by seniors brightening the atmosphere.
Would you believe it, that we had more male participants against
a lone woman, competing spiritedly and coming out winners. |
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| The second prize winner
at the Rangoli Competition Mr.Rajnikant Bhavsar |
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| There was a tie for the
3rd prize between Amrut Patel and the only female participant
- Niranjana Seth |
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VISRATE SUR - 17 TH DECEMBER 2006
To celebrate completion of 3 year's of our Chai Masti Centre,
we organised a Musical evening “Visrate Sur” at Seva Sadan, Gamdevi,
in which our enthusiastic members participated. A professional
orchestra team accompanied our members, who after 2 long months
of practice did a wonderful job which was appreciated by those
present. The audience enjoyed 26 old Hindi film songs, solos
as well as duets.
To encourage our members along we had Mr.Amin Sayani who was
the Chief Guest for the evening. His words of appreciation for
the real reward for our members.
One of our Dignity Foundation Trustees, Mr.Ashok Modi, who is
also a keen lover of music, especially, old Hindi Film songs,
was present to give confidence to our participants. He also gave
away prizes for the various competitions held at our Chai Masti
In the end it was the spirit of the members which stole the
show. |
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