Delhi daily events

It is Friday morning today. Delhi is keeping me very busy with regular activities and events – art shows, book releases, cultural functions and performances and add to that the parties thrown in by the diplomats. The level and frequency of diplomatic activities are very high in Delhi compared to Kolkata.

Yesterday evening I attended the Iranian National Day celebrations at Hotel Le Meridien. It was a gathering of diplomats and turned out to be a great opportunity for me to catch up with many of my friends.

It was the 32nd Anniversary Celebrations of Islamic Republic of Iran. I was invited by Mr S A Mahadavi, who is a Senior Counsellor of Energy and Economy in the Iranian Mission. Mr Mahadavi is an old diplomat in Delhi, he has played an important role in strengthening the relations between the two countries in past several years. He introduced me to the ambassador Mr Seyed Mahdi Nabizadeh who informed me that around June or July there would be a celebration of Tagore in Iran.

Iran is among those countries I have yet to visit. We also discussed about the activities of Iran Society in Kolkata. I met Faroukh Abdullah after a long time. The last time I met him was when he had attended the dinner hosted by me in Delhi (picture).

Today there is a book launch on Shuvaprasanna at The National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, followed by a panel discussion in which Prof B N Goswami (art historian), Shri Jawhar Sircar (Secretary, Ministry of Culture), Dr Kaushik Basu (Chief Economic Advisor) and Smt Sushma K Bahl (Editor of the Book) would participate.

There was also another book launch Nitish Gadkari on Deendayal Upadhyay for which Mahesh Sharma had invited me. I will miss both the book launch function as I’ll be on a flight to Kolkata today early evening.

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