Scrapped

Bijoy Gupta vents his displeasure on having to shelve his
scripts (he is holding) planned for the Holi festivities 

What we had dreaded came true today. Bijoy Gupta failed to elicit any support from the Club for the skits he had lined up (ref post of February 24) for the Holi celebrations this week-end.
Even those who paid him lip service and looked interested till Saturday cold shouldered him this morning. Out of utter disappointment and disgust, Gupta withdrew his scripts today.
“What else can I do?” he complained, having obviously taken it all to heart. “I cannot force people to act in my play if they don’t want to. But they shouldn’t have led me on like this. I have slogged hard on these scripts. I admire those who had initially told me on my face that they were not interested and will not act. But after assuring me of all support if someone backs out at the last moment, what can I say?”
An emotional man --like any other creative person -- Gupta sees this as a personal affront – more so, after all the acclaim and success he had garnered for the plays staged on the Annual Function (ref post of January 20).
He however, conceded that having to stage another set of plays for Holi is a bit “too much too soon” for members of the Club:

Mumtaz Jahan (r) mobilises the Club for a trip to Kashmir in May

“I have to agree that everybody had worked very hard for the Annual Function. It is no joke rehearsing morning and evening, leaving everything at home and coming dutifully to the Garden at 4:30 pm every day, even on Sundays… It would be unfair to expect the same level of dedication and commitment from everyone all over again for Holi. I would rather reserve these plays for an opportune time, perhaps later in the year. I don't think they would get dated.”
Then as an afterthought, he came up with a novel idea. “Why don’t we combine our Annual Day function with the Holi celebrations in future?" he suggested, eyes shining with excitement. "Next year, let us celebrate the Club’s Annual Day on Holi itself. The Mahamoorkh Sammelan can also be included. In that way, we shall be able to economise on the organizing costs and also be assured of an even bigger audience turnout. It is like killing several birds with one stone!”

Bihari Milwani:
Gupta-ji, next time you should appoint Mr Shekhawat as your media manager. Rest assured, he will gather many moorkhs for your show. In the worst situation, he will bring saalis from his village to act in your play.

Karun Sharma:
It seems wrong to blame a person for his lack of interest. Success of these projects are largely dependent on trust, response and motivation. If a person does not receive even one return call after the two/three calls he made on Saturday and Sunday, or if he is not given a script copy, he clearly may not be considered disinterested or unreliable. Rightly said we are targeting too much in too less time and unless one respects the time schedule of professionally active persons, it may not succeed.

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
We started Mahamoorkh Sammelan last year along with the Holi celebration. This year the only difference would have been that the celebrations were intended to be on a larger scale. It is disheartening to have dropped the idea itself.

Karun Sharma adds:
Angad Sir, there would be fun on this Holi too.