It was a double celebration for the Bengal Net on July 12, when two members, Shoma Chatterjee and Rajeswari Sen (Shoma and Rajee), decided to celebrate their birthdays. Shoma completed a sprightly 60 years and Rajee turned 27, and despite the huge difference in their ages, the dinner party at Shoma’s place was delightful. Busy schedules and long distances notwithstanding, several members managed to come.

The few who could not be present, like Benita, Ananya, and Charu, contributed to the bonhomie by sending their good wishes online. Annam, of course, was out of station, but wished the duo well in advance.

Rajashri Dasgupta made it on time even though she had arrived in Kolkata just a few hours earlier. We also met our newest member, Sudeshna, for the first time.

It was great spending the evening together. In fact, the chatter went on for so long that had it not been for a reminder from Rajashri’s husband, and several reminders from my daughter, we may have broken up only in the early hours of the morning instead of at midnight (12:15 am to be precise!)

We did indulge in some business, however. Sharmila took over as the joint co-ordinator to assist Rajashri in place of Chitralekha (Charu), who had opted out. We also decided on a newsletter and some membership fee to build up a corpus fund.

The attendance included: Ranjita Biswas (who had so thoughtfully picked up lovely gifts for the birthday gals), Uttara Gangopadhyay, Sudeshna Ghosh, Ritusmita Sikdar, Rajashri Dasgupta, Rina Mukherji, and, of course, the hosts, Rajeswari Sen and Shoma Chatterjee.

Rina Mukherji