Jaipur week

Today Saturday was a cool and easy day.

I was supposed to return to Kolkata for a press conference with Sharmila Tagore in connection with a forthcoming event of Tagore in Shantiniketan to be organised by Prabha Khaitan Foundation with ABRITILOKE and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

The press conference got cancelled and I got a chance to spend a couple of more days in the Pink City.

Though I hosted a dinner today evening at The Conclave for the Vietnam delegation visiting the Kolkata Book Fair on the request of Geetesh Sharma, I excused myself for my inability to attend it.

In Jaipur, I met the Industry Minister Rajendra Pareek, Energy Minister Jitendra Singh – an old friend of mine, half a dozen cabinet ministers and some leaders from the Opposition party. It was just a courtesy call as I wanted to say hello to them.

Yesterday morning I visited the State Legislative Assembly and met with the Speaker Dipendra Singh Shekhawat and presented him a copy of my book (picture). Later in the evening, I went to the City Palace for dinner to celebrate the Sirmur Cup. The polo matches were on and I was there watching it every afternoon. The 26th Polo Match was in the national news because of a ruckus between the crowd and the referee.

Dinners and get-togethers at the City Palace, home of the Raj Pariwar of Jaipur, if far and few. And expectedly, the who’s who of Jaipur were there in attendance as were Maharani Padmini Devi, Rajkumari Diya Kumari and her husband Kunwar Narendra Singh (picture). The gathering of 150 people was a late night affair.

Kunwar Narendra Singh and Rajkumari Diya Kumari have never been to Kolkata and said that they would surely pay a visit this year.

During the dinner, I met Sridhar Rao the CEO of Vodafone, Kolkata.

The Sirmour Cup was sponsored by Vodafone and the all the top rung of Vodafone were present on the occasion. I also met director of Vodafone, Sunil Sood, who was earlier posted in Kolkata.

At the party, many people were discussing about the rift in the Calcutta Polo Club and the emergence of two groups – the Bangur and the Military. I refrained from making any comments on the matter as I am not fully aware of what’s on at the Kolkata polo circuit. I also heard that since it is the 150th-year of the Calcutta Polo Club – the first polo club of India – plans are on to organise a mega event to celebrate the occasion in Kolkata. All the polo clubs of India are expected to participate. Let’s see how things progress.

ess bee