Vasant Panchami 2018

Basking in the glory of a successful Annual Function

Time to celebrate – to rejoice in the success of the Annual Function (ref post of January 20) and to reap the rewards of two months of hard work. It was a bounteous harvest. What could be more timely, today being the harvest festival that marks the onset of spring?
We did not celebrate Vasant Panchami though. From early morning, compliments came pouring in from across the Garden – from Vijay Bhai and Swapna Roy Choudhury to special invitees and guests, each expounding on how much they enjoyed the three-hour extravaganza.
If someone found “Kadak Singh Jailor” hilarious, another rated the Raj Kapoor act “lively and spontaneous” while a third

Lost and Found: Bijoy Gupta
collects his belongings from the show

could not get over the name “Prem Pyari Poonawali of Bakwaas TV” and a fourth still giggling over the failed romance of a 90-year-old… But the common thread that ran through all the accolades was that never before has “such an

Arun Patil (in red) pulled up for
mistiming his cue

entertaining programme been held in Lokhandwala”.
Even the Garden watchman could not help exulting: “If only some 200 extra chairs could be provided, many people would not have returned from the gate disappointed. The place was packed to capacity. There was no room for anybody to even stand!”
We too had our share of self-congratulatory back slapping and the odd occasion of pulling up someone for a slip-up (the audience did not notice). For instance, Arun Patil was upbraided for barging on to the stage before his cue. But that’s all part of the fun and games as Kiran Prakash praised every performer by turn and underlined the fact that it was after all, a group show in which “everyone’s contribution was equally important” towards making it a success.
Since all the artistes had to perforce be back-stage through the duration of the programme, it was decided to have a special video screening of the show for their benefit. Shekhawat offered to play host as he has a big screen TV at home. The date and time will be fixed once the video recording reaches us.

Bihari Milwani:
This was supposed to be the Annual Function of 2017. After two months we can have another Annual Function for 2018. We should start preparations right now so that the momentum is maintained and we can do still better by breaking our own record.

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
The performance level of all participants can well be imagined by the mere fact that there was no room for the audience to even stand. All members of the Club deserve to be congratulated for their extraordinary performance. All discharged their responsibilities cheerfully. They all deserved that extra laugh this morning.