At the Desert Soul III

With Girdhari Maharaj

August 27, 2012: It was a busy and rainy weekend in Jaipur for me. Yesterday I got stranded due to a heavy downpour while returning from Rajvilas - another of the vilas properties of the Oberois.

Saturday was tight day as there was the third series of the Desert Soul with Girdhari Maharaj as the guest in conversation with Prerana Shrimali. As a surprise to everybody the sprawling Jalmahal area of the ITC Rajputana began to seem smaller as the number of guests started coming in. The turnout was big and took everyone by surprise. No one thought that a serious programme would draw so many people as audience.

I was elated that the third edition of the Desert Soul series was a runaway success. Before going to the Desert Soul event, I went to the City Palace to have a meeting with Princess Diya Kumari and a couple of like-minded people to discuss about a project which would be made public at the appropriate time.

Yesterday evening I attended a party of the Hindustan Times at the ITC Rajputana itself.

This afternoon I met Mamta Periwal along with Bhavna Jagwani and Dharmendar Kanwar. We took a decision that Mamta Periwal and Jaya Shaktawat would be the joint convenors of Rajasthan Forum's Udaipur unit.

Today evening I fly back to Kolkata.

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