Officers and sportsmen ’em all
It is not always that one gets to see Indian Administrative Officers, serving and retired, get free time to sit with family and friends to indulge in (sporting) games, not mind or political. Indian Administrative Services (IAS) Officers’ Wives Association (IASOWA) organised a ‘Khel khel mein’ on Saturday afternoon where IAS officers and their families played games with Consul Generals, media persons and friends.
The new interim chairman of Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA), Gautam Chatterjee, was by far the most popular starting the ‘teen patti’ game. Laughter was most heard at his table, while retired officer Ravi Buddhitraja and others enjoyed another quiet game a few tables away.
At another table was Ajit Kumar Jain playing rummy with UPS Madan, the chairman of Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, deeply concentrating on the next card to be thrown.
The usually saree-clad Malini Shankar, the director general of shipping, Government of India, was seen sporting a T-shirt promoting a marathon-for-a-cause, helping her friend in the game of words, scrabble. Placing letters strategically to earn more points, she can give many a player a run for their money in word play.
The carom board game attracted other officers and their wives who made quite gritty pairs to hold on to their winning position. All this while bowls of peanuts, chanas and plates of chips along with chais to beat the summer heat.
Now keeping a rather low profile after being embroiled in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, former municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak stuck to the game of chess. He was joined by Satish Tripathi for a small tetee-tete by former additional chief secretary Satish Tripathi.
Meanwhile, the two consul generals who preferred to slog it out in a more physical sport played table tennis. Dressed in sports gear, Saut Siringoringo, CG of Indonesia, first warmed up playing carom and later got into more the intense sport of table tennis against Ajit Singh of the Singapore Consulate.
After some hours of games, while the groups broke up for snacks, the chief secretary, Sumit Mullick, was greeted warmly by all the members. He briefly played table tennis.
Dealing with numerous issues and especially the farmers’ strike, Mullick could not spare more time to relax unlike his colleagues.
The event by IASOWA was the brainchild of Sumit Mullick’s wife Tanuja and organised by Gautam Chatterjee’s wife Shweta.