Many Congratulations!

Sports Day awards function

Siba Prasad Maitra threatened to wear a Bengali dhuti-panjabi for the awards ceremony today. We insisted he better be ready with four different colored T-shirts to be worn each time he steps up to receive an award.
Taking the cue, Pushpa Gupta promised to turn up in a

Siba Prasad Maitra

lehnga-choli and change into sari, then to salwar-kameez and finally to either a skirt or shorts. Like Maitra, she too was receiving four awards. In fact, between them, they had swept more than half the awards given out today. But then, as things turned out, both showed up in regular work-a-day clothes – Maitra in white T-shirt and trousers and Pushpa, in a non-descript blue gown, covered from top to toe!

Pushpa Gupta

Kajal and Dilip Babani: two
winners in a family

Personal gifts from Rukhsana Khan.
Kiran Prakash is in the background

Yet, they outshone all prize-winners present (ref post of March 3) with an armful of dazzling cups and medals strung around their necks.
Dr Muhammad Farooq, our chief guest of the morning, did the honors while Yusuf Rassiwala shared

Mubaraka with her gran'pa,
Yusuf Rassiwala

the (make-shift) dais with Shekhawat. Kiran Prakash revealed his penchant

Bhaswati Bose receives her medal
from Dr Muhammad Farooq

for ready wit as the compere – even getting Dilip Babani to inflate a balloon to prove that he really deserved the first prize in the event.
The awards presentation was peppered with such humorous asides as winner after winner, held aloft the glittering trophies to a rumble of applause from the audience. It was verily a moment of pride for each of them – completely unexpected, but well-earned. The most wonderful part was that the entire club joined them warmly in celebrating their achievement.
Not to be left out, the three judges too had their moment in the sun. Mubaraka Rassiwala, Alviya Khan and Saleha Khan were individually given ‘medals of commendation’ and

Prized Moment: From hubby to wife with
love and admiration

Mubaraka Rassiwala addresses the gathering on
behalf of the kids

separately, Rukhsana Khan presented them (and all other kids) with personal gifts as mementos. If that was not enough, little Mubaraka delivered a brilliant speech – completely extempore and superbly worded as only a child can – thanking the Club for having her around. She was speaking on behalf of all the kids present.
But the best, as they say, was reserved for the last. Kiran Prakash declared that the Club owed all the excitement and joy of the Sports Day to one person

Banoo Apa

and were it not for the tireless efforts of this individual behind-the-scenes, we probably would not be seeing this day. Big Laaf would therefore like to felicitate this person for her “outstanding sporting spirit” with an award, he informed. He kept the suspense hanging in the air, urging members of the audience to take a guess…
And then he revealed the name: BANOO APA. Her reaction to the announcement must be seen to be believed. For that, hold on for the Pic of the Week tomorrow. It's a picture worth a million words!

Special Credit: All the pictures in this post have been clicked by GEETA LATTE.

WINNERS ALL (l to r): Yusuf Rassiwala, Bihari Milwani, Dilip Babani, Urmila Sinha, Banoo Apa, Siba Prasad Maitra
Pushpa Gupta, Nahid Khan, Bhaswati Bose and Kajal Babani 

Intekhab Alam Khan:
Thanks guys for honoring both my parents. You guys are truly wonderful. Deep respect and gratitude to all of you.

Banoo Apa:
Dear Big Laaf people -- Haar-jeet toh zindagi ka hissa hai. Magar haarne ke baad, jo mujhe izzat bakhshi hai, mujhe shayad jeetne mein bhi itni khushi nahi milti. Yeh sab aap logon ka pyar hai. Thank you very much. This is a great achievement in my life.

Dilip Babani:
Sports Day enjoyed and prize distribution ceremony, more enjoyed. Big Laaf members and guests are best and all are very caring.

Muhammed Farooq Khan:
I wish to place my heartfelt gratitude to BIG LAAF for bestowing the singular honor of distributing the prizes to winners of the sports event. Throughout the ceremony and thereafter, I was wondering, “What have I done to earn this singular honor?" I couldn’t find any achievement of mine worthy of this honor. But then suddenly it dawned on me that BIG LAAF is my family. And the family loves and honors every member equally. On Saturday it was my turn, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. I look forward to serving my BIG family in any and every way possible.

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
Big Laaf is a wonderful organisation. In celebrating Sports Day, every one is a winner. The prize winners are certainly there, but all the participants are also worthy of winning. The enjoyment could be felt by their joshila participation and happiness.

Harish Wadhwa:
Wow!!! Pics of the winners holding cups. Congratulations to all the winners. Maitra-ji, Bravo! You got three of them.