When Passionately Personalised Hospitality, Or ‘Estique’, Segued Into Fellowship

What is Estique? I was to find out over a wonderful weekend shared with a fun bunch of Rotarians on a Fellowship outing. Arriving a day prior to the group, my heart lifted upon alighting at Pune airport at the informality of being able to walk from the aircraft to the terminal. And the mood was set. Pune is where I was born, and serendipitously found myself back there in time for my birthday more than half a century later! A first happy day in private led on to the next couple when the party started in right earnest.

Day One.

The Mumbaikars started arriving in bits and bobs on Friday the 11th. By teatime, most had been marked present. The first item on the menu was a winetasting contest in preparation for which we had all been thoughtfully provided detailed sheets on how to tell a fruity from a fraud. Needless to say, many of us, including me, lazily preferred to fly blind, opting to bury our not so trained noses in the aroma rather than the study sheet. Little did we know how embarrassingly little we did know. The contest was most interestingly designed. Each of us was armed with a mark sheet on which we were required to rate on various parameters the eight wines we were served. We learned how tell a wine’s “legs”, how to swirl and twirl a glass, connoisseurlike.

All we didn’t learn was how to tell good wine from bad! Minal won and all of us trooped merrily onto the terrace restaurant for a spot of dancing and dinner. Post rain, the weather was as cool as the music to which we jived. A Another group of revellers. PP Nandan and Shreelekha Damani, Ashok and Vatsala Jatia, Charu Juneja, President Dr. Sonya Mehta, Malini Agarwalla, President Nominee Ramesh Narayan, PP Sandip Agarwalla and Arvind Agarwal Are they heading towards the bowling alley? Ramesh Mehta (from left) with Malini Agarwalla, Preeti Mehta, Rachna Agarwal, President Dr. Sonya Mehta, Dr. Mukesh Batra and PP Ajay Kanoria And the surprise winner of the karaoke contest is Jai Advani. Seated from right are Shalina Advani, President Dr. Sonya Mehta, Malini Agarwalla, Radhika Kaji, Meher Poonawala and Swati Dalal delicious dinner down, the day was finally declared done.

Day Two.

A big breakfast replete with pancakes and dosas fuelled us through a bowling competition where every strike was as lustily cheered as every gutter ball! Biryani for lunch received even more cheers as did all those who ventured to sing old filmi songs, karaoke style. Jai was the surprise hit singer. Young Hriman scored for energy and enthusiasm. The next high was tea with Pune snack specialties. We heard fascinating stories about the hotel’s architecture and how its romantic lighting owed to it being the first all-LED hotel with fittings dating back to when LEDs were really rare, expensive and low wattage. Dinner was another fancy affair at the city’s best restaurant Malaka Spice. On separate tables, the veggies outnumbered the nons and a good time was had by all.

All the reluctant-to-retire then enjoyed an after party where Khurshed regaled us with the latest Indrani gossip and whether “xyz” or “abc” was Sheena’s dad/brother/boyfriend/ unborn baby.

Day Three.

Sunday started like Sundays should – slow and with a late breakfast merging into a Sangria brunch, as the exodus began. But not before we’d all experienced “Estique” – the name for passionately personalised hospitality that crafted an imaginative, interesting and enjoyable outing for a great group of Rotarians. A truly memorable Fellowship. Thank you Jai, Shalina and every member of the gang.

Bonding over breakfast (from right) Khurshed Poonawala, Shalina Advani, Meher Poonawala, Malini Agarwalla Ramesh Mehta, Rachna Agarwal, PP Ajay Kanoria, Arvind Agarwal and Pravin Bhansali Sticking to bottled water at the bar. Swati Dalal and Ms Ambika Shukla, the author of this article Members of the Rotaract Club of H.R. College set out on August 14 to “spread the vibe of our Independence Day and revive love towards our rich culture” among the little children of the “Smiles” institute. They used a series of videos to explain to them the significance of Independence Day. Apart from conducting a few games and activities with H.R. Rotaractors Host A Series Of Events them, they also gave the children were given biscuits and an Indian flag badge. The children were all smiles as the left. On Independence Day itself, the Rotaractors divided themselves into six groups, each headed by a duo of one FYJC and one SYJC leader. As part of the programme called “Fiesta”, they had to select a country and portray that country in the best possible manner through a variety of events. These included a dance, a fashion show, a cappella, PowerPoint presentation, background and quiz. There was stiff competition between the six participating groups. The Rotaractors hoped that the programme would foster friendship and camaraderie. Yoga Committee Is Reconstituted The Club has reconstituted the Yoga Committee. The Committee, headed by Sitaram Shah, has already started the work of spreading the message and benefits of Yoga. It hopes to make a significant contribution to the cause it eschews. Those who enjoyed the Pune Fellowship and had a great time there were the following: PP Sandip and Malini Agarwalla, Arvind and Rachna Agarwal, Atit and Swati Agarwal, PP Harry Singh and Biba Arora, President-Elect Dr. Mukesh Batra, his grandson Hriman and Ms Ambika Shukla, Pravin Bhan-sali, Rohan and Swati Dalal, PP Nandan and Shreelekha Damani, Ashok and Vatsala Jatia, Vinod and Charu Juneja, Sameer and Radhika Kaji, PP Ajay and Vandana Kanoria, Preeti and Gautam Mehta, Ramesh Mehta, President Dr. Sonya Mehta and Dr. Bomi Framroze, President Nominee Ramesh Narayan, Burjor Poonawala, Khurshed and Meher Poonawala, Madhup and Minal Vaghani and Jai and Shalina Advani.