3 Major Decisions

Discussions on charting a road map for the club

THREE important decisions were taken this morning at an informal meeting after the exercises:
One, the party scheduled at Juhu Beach this Sunday (yesterday’s post) has been postponed by a week. November 3 is Chatth Puja, a major festival (especially for migrants from eastern India).

Naseer Putani Shah returned
today after a critical eye surgery 

The beach will be virtually out of bounds for us as it would be milling with crowds of devotees and hangers-on. It was therefore felt that we should push our party date by another week, to November 10 (Sunday). The venue remains the same.
Two, the next New Year’s celebration will be held at Borivli National Park and for a change, there will be no outside food. It will be a ‘potluck picnic’ with everyone pooling in with home-cooked dishes and savories. As Nahid Khan put it, “we shall take our pick from whatever is available” rather than source food from some caterer or restaurant. This would be another departure from our norm.
Three, the Annual Day function stands cancelled. Instead, we shall be having Sports Day, as we did the last time around. It was generally felt that preparations for the Annual Function are not just time-consuming but also generates bad blood among members, especially during the rehearsals. Moreover, as Kiran Prakash pointed out, we suffer from an acute paucity of artistes and engaging outside talent is not a good idea. A sporting event is comparatively more inclusive, rewarding, enjoyable and well worth the effort.
These decisions are of course, subject to the convenience of all members. For instance, Yusuf Rassiwala will be away in Surat for a week from November 14. Any moment Shekhawat will air dash to his village in Rajasthan as a close relative lies terminally ill in hospital. Kiran Prakash will also be out of town during the year-end due to a wedding in the family… A consensus will have to be drawn at every stage owing to such exigencies.