Henry ford once said “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself” and this is what the Defence Colony RWA committee proved by holding an amazing Diwali Mela on the 28th and 29th October 2023.
With a little less than a month at their disposal the event sub-committee was given an elephantine task of holding a Diwali Mela which is an event every resident looks forward to. The challenge was to plan it in such a way that it did not clash with either the melas in the vicinity or the cricket matches. To top it all many members of the committee and all the previous volunteers were not available due to personal reasons. In spite of all these hindrances, the committee decided to not give up and go ahead with the event.
With their mind set on holding the event, the remaining team worked like a well-oiled machine. The president Veena Khanna went with Sumeet Chugh and Anuj Bakshi to all the senior level officers for permissions, Col Lamba (HGS) and Subhashini Sood (Vice President) sat in the office for hours on end for stall bookings, Wing Commander B.N. Singh kept a track of our finances, Mandeep Singh got busy with fire dept permission, Harsharan assisted in tentage, Brig. Kapoor and Col. Nagarani kept a sharp eye on the security details and the whole office staff put in their best to make sure everything fell into place. We cannot thank enough our Municipal Councillor Anita Basoya and Sandeep Basoya who personally went with the team to get us the permission required to hold the event.
The event which was sold out as far as vendors are concerned, was inaugurated by our main sponsors, the Amity group, a family who have always been at the forefront of colony welfare activities. Ajay Chauhan complimented the whole team in putting together an event which had everything one could ask for: Games for Children, Shopping for families, Mehandi and bangles stalls for ladies getting ready for Karvachauth, stalls selling Jewellery, home furnishings, Children’s clothing, books, pickles, coffee to name a few. In fact, the committee in all its wisdom, made entry free for all the ladies on the second day so that they could come shop for Karwachauth and get mehndi put which was made available at very reasonable charges. Another major attraction of the mela, which was a big hit, was the food court with Stalls by famous brands like Nizams, The Turkey Project, WOK88, Café Brown Sugar, Bruxie’s Fried Chicken, Koyla Kabab, Bikanerwala and Sindhi Foods.
The mela was attended and appreciated by 3000-4000 people over a period of two days. We even had the pleasure of having many VIP’s visiting the mela, like our MLA Madan Lal, our area MP Meenakshi Lekhi, Amit Sharma Additional Commissioner MCD, our Municipal Councillor Anita Basoya and Sandeep Basoya, Rajya Sabha member Mukul Wasnik, our SHO Chander Shekhar to name a few. It was a pleasure to see all residents and dignitaries enjoying the mela and even dancing along with the Bhangra group that made the place lively and fun. It would be unfair to not mention the awesome music played by the army band and the special performance by Children with Autism.
And to top it all the financial output of a record sale of 2023 stall bookings for the RWA and its welfare projects was handsomely upped from the previous year.
In the end, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the resident volunteers on gate duties. A big shout goes out to all our residents who attended the mela and to those too, who could not attend but sent us their best wishes. Let’s keep the spirit of My Colony, My Pride Alive!
Boastful article, an introspection should be valuable for future events.