Woman of the Year

Navin Shah presents Nahid Khan the WoY-2015 trophy

Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8 (tomorrow), Nahid Khan was today declared Woman of the Year by popular vote. As tomorrow happens to be Sunday, a holiday, the WoY crystal trophy was presented to her this morning, soon after the exercises.
Nahid Khan succeeds Santosh Tyagi, the claimant of this distinction last year.
The WoY selection is an annual ritual observed by male members of the Club to honour their female counterparts on International Women’s Day.

A poster put up in the Garden

Nominations are made by secret ballot and results are not disclosed till the eleventh hour in order to build up suspense and present the winner with a pleasant surprise when her name is called out eventually.
This time around, it was a close contest among four ladies (ref post of February 25) with Nahid managing to scrape ahead by a single vote. The votes were counted (and recounted) in the presence of two independent witnesses,

It was Navin Shah's day

Kiran Prakash and Mohammad Gulzar with Srichand Arora as the ‘presiding officer’.
Oddly enough, Sheela Mirani and Bhaswati Bose bagged one vote each, thus prompting the latter to initiate a probe on who “that kind gentleman” could be to have favored her.

Milling crowds at the 'Cosmopolitan Party'

She targeted Tara Chand Seth, but when he rebuffed her, she turned to other men accusing them of having been brow beaten by Nahid. “Did you not receive a phone call at midnight, admit it!” she asked Shekhawat, instantly drawing a round of guffaws.
Significantly, Nahid was to receive the trophy from the hands of Navin Shah, who happened to be hosting a 'Cosmopolitan Party' in the China Hut today. This is a new initiative, completely personal, meant to celebrate the spirit of communal harmony among the Garden regulars. More than the idli-chai on offer, what struck us all was the humility of the man while requesting everyone to partake in his happiness and ensuring nobody went away disappointed. The least we could do in return was to make him our Guest of Honour for presenting Nahid the WoY-2015 trophy. He readily obliged.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Mrs Nahid Khan deserves to be congratulated for winning the trophy of Big Laaf-Woman of the Year because of her contribution towards the club. Successful people do simple things differently and she is one of them. Congrats and best wishes!!!
Kiran Prakash:
Congratulations to Nahid Khan on winning the WoY Trophy. And any amount of admiration will not be enough for Navin's noble thoughts and gesture. May we all be blessed with such thoughts of equality.
Bhaswati Bose:
Next year before voting takes place, the ladies should be given at least 15 days for campaigning and sufficient time for booth capturing on election day. Unofficially, supari can always be given for potential winners!
Kiran Prakash responds:
Ha, ha, ha... I am officially willing to take supari at a reasonable cost. Please get in touch before entering into contract with anybody else. Results guaranteed!
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Congratulations Nahid Khan, for winning the closely contested WoY-2015 trophy. It is one's work of the whole year which counts. Good luck to all our women members for the next year. Certainly they should be given time to explain their contributions. We are thankful to Navin Bhai for his magnanimity in giving a treat to everyone in the Garden without discrimination. Such people are few to be found.