Gala Celebration

Today was Srichand Arora’s birthday. By hosting a gala celebration jointly with Dilip Babani this morning, he flagged off the Club’s first birthday bash of the year in the Chinese Hut.
Dilip-bhai’s birthday was on January 10; but he had kept his party on hold in deference to the senior member’s celebration this morning. With their wives, Kajal Babani and Kiran Arora, along with almost 40 members of the Club in attendance, it had to be an affair to remember.
Even those not-so-regular for the exercises every day, made it a point to be present and wish Dilip-bhai and Arora-sah’b on the occasion.Our in-house Guruji blessed the two with a short-but-sweet speech on why we need to cherish these moments and how much both Arora-sah’b and Dilip-bhai mean to us. As the heart and soul of the Club, they not only bring good cheer and happiness every morning to the Garden, but more importantly, they have been instrumental in infusing a sense of togetherness among members. The words were greeted with the customary three bouts of loud laughter, followed by a round of warm hugs and backslapping.
Earlier, the members and guests joined in chorus to wish the duo “Happy Birthday”, clapping and dancing together as per tradition. And in between the generous servings of phapra-jalebi and other savories, Sitaram Hivarkar broke into his medley of devotional and semi-classical songs, befitting the occasion. This was verily a celebration from the heart that touched everybody deeply.
The only dampener of the morning was the absence of two key lady members. Geeta Sardhana is said to be busy with arrangements for her daughter’s engagement ceremony. And Nahid Khan has reported sick. Or is there more to it after what transpired with her yesterday? Let’s just hope neither of this is true.

Renu Babani says:
Yes, the party was fun. The turnout was termendous. We ladies were serving plates continuously and somehow there seemed no end! However, as long as everyone had fun, that is what counts. I suppose we are making the most of these parties and no matter what anyone says, also await such occasions. So, once the month begins, a note is generally made of the birthdays and a party on the agenda is there for sure. Hopefully we shall see Mrs Khan back in action on Monday. Geeta, please get back to the Garden as well. We miss you. For those who have been lazy due to the weather, well, no more excuses. Now the days are definitely better. So get your butts out of that bed and MOVE!
--Renu