Lunch with Shabana

I hosted a lunch with Shabana Azmi at the Taj Bengal today afternoon. The invitees were the sponsors of Education for All project spearheaded by a trust that I initiated in 2000.

I had to shift the luncheon meet from September 7^th to 8^th due to thebandh on short notice, yet the sponsors attended in good strength. 

Among the invitees who attended were H M Bangur, Satyam Roy Chowdhury, Rajendra Bacchawat, Gopal Poddar, Madhu Neotia and others while Ujjwal Upadhyaya, Pawan Ruia, B D Surekha, Partho Ghosh and few others could not attend due to the change in the program date as they had prior engagements.

Shabana spoke about the need for projects like Education for All and personally reached out to thank each of the sponsors of the project. The guests were overwhelmed by the Kashmiri cuisine as much by the warmth and charm of Shabana. She also liked and admired the paintings at The Taj Bengal banquet.

In the evening I went to watch a play at the Birla Sabhaghar and then to The Conclave for a small and cosy get together to celebrate Suresh Neotia’s birthday. Had dinner there with him along with Madhu Neotia and Hemant Kanoria. Also met Shalen Bhawna Khemani, Kishor and Rita Bhimani and Shridhar Rao, CEO, Vodafone, and his wife.

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