Festive Weekend

Siba Prasad Maitra (ext left) drops by with Durga Puja passes

Six days into the ‘Festival of Nine Nights’ (Navratri), the Club woke up this morning to making the most of the festivities over the next few days. Hurried plans were drawn up on catching up with the celebrations in the neighborhood during the weekend.
Adding to the festive fervour, Siba Prasad Maitra dropped by to invite us to the Durga Puja celebration at the nearby Tulip Star Hotel in Juhu.

Sunita Jajodia (l) escorts Santosh Tyagi

Like every year, he had saved a few entry passes for the cultural programme in the evening at the venue. The highlight today is a grand musical extravaganza to be helmed by well-known playback singer Udit Narayan.
This is no small favour for our star-struck members -- more so, since passes to the evening programme at Tulip Star is much sought after during Durga Puja. Maitra also graciously invited all members to the community feast (bhog) organised

Banoo Apa (c) treats us to morning tea  and biscuits

in the afternoons at the puja pandal. “In case you have any difficulty getting in, please give me a call and I will ensure you gain entry,” was his offer to every member.
Another big blessing of the morning was Santosh Tyagi turning up first time for the exercises after the demise of her son last month (ref post of September 14). Evidently, she had come at the behest of Sunita Jajodia, an ex-member who shifted to Malad four years back. The latter wanted to combine her visit with that of Santosh, if only to draw her out of the house and get her to gradually resume her normal routine.
Clearly, Santosh was still grieving and did not enjoy the morning out. Yusuf Rassiwala tried giving her some pep talk for a while. Friends and acquaintances also stopped by to commiserate, only to drive her to tears time and again. This was however, expected. Moreover, it was necessary for her to face the world and normalise things for herself. She took the first step in that direction today.

Karun Sharma:
Very good and godly decisions taken for Navratri celebrations. Our hearts go out to dear Santosh-ji who was always smiling and bringing smiles to us. We are still searching for that small piece of paper full of jokes in Santosh-ji's purse.