September 26, 2014

Events and miss outs

With Balendu Singh, Sunil Gupta and Belinda Wright

September 26, 2014: The last three days were so hectic I couldn’t do anything else other then work.

On Tuesday (Sept 23) evening we had another event of The Write Circle series in which Belinda Wright was the guest author. Mr Balendu Singh – Former Honorary Chief Warden of the Ranthambore sanctuary – was in conversation with Belinda.

The conversation between Balendu and Belinda was simply brilliant. The audience at the ITC Rajputana was very impressed with the visual presentation of Belinda in which she had photos of her childhood with many animals including the tigers.

At the dinner with Mita Kapur, Rahul Kapur, Bina Kak, Belinda Wright, Balendu Singh and Sudhir Kasliwal

While we were having tea before the event we received the information about the Delhi zoo incident in which a white tiger killed a man who fell into the tiger’s enclosure. Belinda’s phone was continuously ringing as TV channels wanted her views on this. In the evening, I hosted a small dinner for Belinda.

Wednesday was also quite a busy day as I received information that the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt Mamata Banerjee, would be coming to my puja pandal at Chaltabagan which means, instead of flying from Bangalore to Kolkata , I would have to be back in Kolkata on September 25, 2014.

With Kunwar Natwar Singh

On September 24, I hosted a lunch for Shri Kunwar Natwar Singh who was in Jaipur on my invitation to deliver the third Prabha Khaitan Memorial Lecture on “Present Government’s Foreign Policy” at the Hotel Marriott.

I hosted the lunch at the ITC Rajputana and then went to Hotel Marriott for the lecture. Between lunch and the lecture, I made arrangements for the Chief Minister of West Bengal’s visit to my puja pandal and also changed my itinerary.

So instead of flying to Bangalore, I landed in Kolkata yesterday morning from Jaipur and also missed the book launch of Shri Kunwar Natwar Singh in Jaipur hosted by Step by Step Foundation.

My name was printed on the invite. Normally, I never break a commitment but somehow this is the second time it has so happened with Step by Step that I could not be there at the event after confirming my presence. I look forward to attend the Step by Step Annual function on October 20, 2014, which I shall be attending with the talented Shantanu Moitra.

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