Citygritty — Pune

A mother wrote her thanks for fighting to give her child a bright future. A tea stall owner expressed his own sadness as he wrote the heart-rending words, “What message shall I give, I have given my brother.” Another poignant message came from a seventh-grader, who said he was inspired by the jawans and vowed to join the forces when he grew up to serve the nation.Noble idea, noble cause! In cash and kind n The Kargil conflict has at least succeeded in bringing out the positive side of people. Sitting at the Poona Club playing cards, a few women were sufficiently moved to do something.

Vimla Bhatia, a housewife alongwith two other friends Panna Bafna and Rita Chopra went around collecting money from friends and relatives and garnered Rs 5000. They even got Kesh Knitwear on M G Road to donate 100 sweaters. With the money they collected, they bought monkey caps and on Monday delivered the woollies to Brig. Madan Gopal’s office. The Brigadier informed them that the woollies would be used for the soldiers recuperating at the Artificial Limb Centre.

“He, in fact, requested us if we could donate a wheelchair- which we will try to,” says Bhatia. Just goes to show that one does not need an organisation to do some good. Intentions are good enough.

One more…
Since Kargil is on everyone’s minds, here’s another event dedicated to the martyrs. Artist Rupa Rajkumar Chordia’s solo exhibition of paintings at the Balgandharva Kala Dalan from July 15 to 18 is entitled Homage to the Martyrs of Kargil. The young artist from Pune is in her last year at the Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya. Inspired by Indian miniatures, Chordia’s paintings are suffused with colour and concentrate on the human figure. She has already held shows in Pune and won State awards for her work. The exhibition will be inaugurated by Lila Poonawala, managing director and chairperson, Tetrapak India Ltd and Shantaram Mazumdar, founder-director, Symbiosis.

Quite cerebral n The technique of self-management as taught by Vedanta philosophy and an analysis into the origin of stress were the key elements of Swami Parthasarathy’s address at a seminar organised at the Hotel Blue Diamond recently.

The seminar Reduce stress through self-management ‘ specially designed for senior management personnel addressed issues that are prevalent in the contemporary lifestyle. Stress arises not due to external factors but when one’s mind overpowers the intellect, explained Parthasarthy, founder of the Vedanta Academy. The technique of strengthening the intellect with practical tips were explained.

Move over, Happy B’day
He looked like a typical Bong straight out of Tollygunj. The arty kurta pyjama did go well with the ghazal night, but what exactly was Shomu Mukherjee doing at Pune’s Le Meridien? Shomu, sometime actor and now better known as Kajol’s father and Ajay Devgan’s father-in-law, was in Pune for a birthday bash thrown by Subhash Sanas on Sunday night. Partyman Sanas only needs an excuse to throw a bash. But the forty-seventh birthday is no excuse, it’s a genuine reason.

So, besides the famous father, Le Meridien saw most of Pune’s glitterati. From L K Bhojawani, S K Agarwal to Umesh Karia who has promised to soon disclose the secret of his miraculous recovery from fourth stage colon cancer and of course ghazal singer Charanjit Suparna who infused life into the evening.

In fact, Charanjit worked such wonders that almost everyone present was inspired to become an instant ghazal singer.

The first to do so was Narendra Gupta, a builder from Mumbai, who belted out a painful Dil Ek Mandir, then came Umesh karia who crooned away to high heavens with Pal Bhar Ke Liye.Well, well, whatever happened to old fashioned Happy Birthday? Or would Sanas prefer to forget about all those years?