Awards Presentation

Dr Mohd Farooq with Prabha Kapoor 

Banoo Apa (l) with Khatoon Baig

The day finally dawned for Prabha Kapoor to stand tall as the proud winner of the 13th Pehchaan Kaun Contest (ref post of November 1). She received a handsome crystal trophy from our guest of honour, Dr Muhammed Farooq Khan for being the only one among 30 contestants to have identified his wife, Banoo Apa from a black-and-white photograph taken when she was 22 years old (post of November 11).
“She obviously knows my wife better than I do,” quipped Dr Farooq in jest. But sure enough, for Prabha Kapoor to emerge winner had taken many of us by surprise.

Yusuf R receives trophy

Niloufer Rassiwala receives trophy

“Let's give her a big hand,” applauded Srichand Arora. “Who would have imagined that such a quiet lady who does not interact with anybody and always keeps to herself could have recognized Banoo correctly from the photo?”
“That is because she interacts with Banoo only,” retorted Jagmohan Papneja, another contestant.
While Prabha Kapoor has made no secret of “knowing Banoo Apa for eight years”, there are many in the Club who have hobnobbed with the latter for much longer. They were the ones who had come up with the most outlandish guesses, some even identifying her as Mallika Kagzi or Geeta Latte, of all the people. Her mother tongue and place of birth were the cause of a far bigger mystery.

Hostess of the mostest in the grand party

Akshat Chaudhary

Above all, to the credit of Prabha Kapoor, she had as many as 50 names (49 actually) to sift through -- every one of them an equally strong suspect – before zeroing in on Banoo Apa.
The brief but well-attended ceremony also saw Yusuf Rassiwala and Niloufer Rassiwala collect their respective trophies for the musical chairs competition at Royal Hills Resort three months back (see post and slide show of August 22). It was a rare coincidence for husband and wife to win successive rounds of the fiercely fought competition during the picnic. Our t’ai chi ladies, Wu Mei-Hua (a.k.a. Melody) and Chi Chi did the honors for the Rassiwala couple.
But in the end, it was Banoo Apa all the way. Today was her day. Had she not loaned her picture, the Pehchaan Kaun contest would have meant nothing and the trophy handed to her (by last time winner, Khatoon Baig) was a mere token of appreciation for all her cooperation and support.

Friends (and foes) cheering the winners

More than that was the massive breakfast serving today, the kind the Club had never seen before – let alone savor. A platter full of the choicest delicacies, no less than a dozen in number and with tea/ cold drinks to wash down was a treat that would befit royalty. This is Banoo Apa to us – forever supportive, large-hearted, generous and selfless in whatever she does. She expects nothing from us and nothing we do in gratitude, can ever be enough.
It was also very kind of her husband, Dr Muhammed Farooq to take time out and grace the occasion so early in the morning. In fact, this was the first time in so many years that he has visited us in the Garden.
In the end, if there was one person everybody missed, it was little Akshat Chaudhary. Pity he could not be part of today's fun and food because of a running tummy. (His father and grandparents were there though.) Let's hope Akshat recovers over the week-end and is able to join us in the Garden on Monday.
Bhaswati Bose:
Hearty CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!
Muhammed Farooq Khan:
I do not have words to thank you all for the love, kindness, hospitality and attention shown to me on Saturday. In fact, it took me one day to get out of the hangover of your love to post this comment. May you all keep loving each other irrespective of your color, gender, religion, language, caste and temperament. Once again thank you all for your hospitality. HAPPY LAAFING. And yes, keep up the good work. I do not go to the Garden, but I regularly follow, appreciate and enjoy your blog immensely.