Meet the Club’s very own ‘Gulabi Gang’
Abhinav Aggarwal
On Sunday, April 6, the Rotary Club of Bombay held a ‘Gulabi Gang’ fellowship, which was attended by 200 Rotarians, Rotaryannes and guests.
Rtn. Abhinav and R/Anne Nidhi Aggarwal, Rtn. Ashok and R/Anne Urvashi Minawala, Rtn. Ashwin and R/Anne Dhvanika Thakkar, Rtn. Ajit and R/Anne Poonam Surana, Rtn. Kastur and R/Anne Heena Sheth, Rtn. Pranay and R/Anne Sweta Vakil, Rtn. Pratap and R/Anne Falguni Padode, Rtn. Samir and R/Anne Shailaja Mogul, Rtn. Shivprakash and R/Anne Ritu Bhartia and Rtn. Shreepal and R/Anne Pinky Dalal came together to host the evening. Right from the dress code to a fabulous new venue, great food, drinks, dance, music and cricket — everything about the fellowship was memorable.
As you would have guessed, the dress code for the evening was gulabi (pink) with black thrown in for good measure. Rotarians sparkled like fresh roses in an English garden, with the verdant lawns of Viveria, the fabulous new building at Jacob’s Circle, Mahalaxmi, providing an idyllic setting for these flowers to blossom.
The catering was handled by the fabled Elco. There was an exhaustive vegetarian and non-vegetarian offering with starters, chaat and main course. Some of the highlights included vodka pani puri and fresh sugarcane juice.
There was a live music performance led by noted gynaecologist Dr. Shashikant Kamath and his wife Vinita, who also compered the proceedings. It was quite a revelation to discover the hidden talent of our Club, with Rotarians and Rotaryannes such as Pratap and Falguni Padode, Past President Kalpana Munshi, Deepak Kapadia, Pranay and Sweta Vakil, Shreepal Dalal, Ritu Bhartia, Vandana Daga, Susmita Mitra and Adi Dastur crooning song after soulful song. If any of you are contemplating producing a film, you need not look far to find playback singers.The live music gave way to DJ and dance. It was wonderful seeing so many Rotarians, both old and new, shaking a leg on the dance floor.
There was also the big T20 final on April 6 and the Rotaract Club of Jai Hind College ensured we didn’t miss out on the action by organising a large screen for cricket enthusiasts. If only India had won, we could have drunk to our success; instead, we got stuck having to drown
our sorrows.