De-stressing dose  Camaraderie and fellow feeling reigned supreme despite the competitive spirit during the two-day veterans’ tennis meet hosted by Police Officers’ Club at Ulubari, Guwahati last weekend as top police and civil officials indulged in recreational duels with members of India Club and NETF. And it was icing on the cake for Anil Kumar Jha and Diganta Thakur as they, especially the former, displayed strong nerves and big match temperament to scrape past Anju Das and Baba Choudhury for the trophy. The prize-giving evening provided the perfect ambience for partying amidst the ready wit and humour of Sibabrata Kakoti even as soothing melodies by Sudha Srivastava, Anirbaan Das, RM Singh, AK Jha, Abhijit Bora, Pragoti Bora, Dr Ashim Choudhury, Hemanta Sarma, Rana Bhuyan, Bihu songs by Pratul Phukan (aka Tennis Phukan for keeping the sports going among the cops), and rock numbers by Amlandeep Das and Tuktuk Sarma regaled all and more than made up for the sweat and toil of the victors and vanquished alike. It was nice to see educationist and actress Arundhati Kakoti and Lady Sudha humbly mingle as ideal hosts making all, especially the lady guests, feel relaxed and comfortable. The VIPs who adorned the relishing evening included chief cop GM Srivastava, BP Rao, RN Mathur among others. Other enthusiasts who participated in the friendlies included Dibakar Sarma, Amal Dutta Lahkar, Subhash Goswami, Avinash Joshi, ‘all-rounder’ Kalyan Chakravorty, Abani Barua, Md Alauddin among others. Precisely, this welcome change must have acted as a de-stressing drug amidst the monotonous hustle-bustle of daily life, and is worth reminiscing.

Beauty bits  At first glance, the two-hour programme billed Bhanu’s D’Parloric Show 2009 looked more like a publicity and marketing gimmick to create a hype for beautician Bhanu Sharma. But as the show progressed, the audience realized the importance of the event and seemed to have benefited a great deal. The concept of the show on February 13 at Pragjyoti, Machkhowa, Guwahati was basically beauty, life and society and was depicted in different formats on the stage through fashion and modelling. Bhanu emphasized on the necessity of beauty in human life by adding various unique components in the show. The highlight was a creative and futuristic fashion show of brides and bridegrooms. What’s more, the live music throughout was an added attraction, while haunting melodies of yesteryears and creative dances added glitz to the show. Earlier, the evening started with a dance item as a mark of birth centenary tribute to the great social reformer Bishnu Rabha. Those present in the show included Mamori Raisom Goswami, Ratna Ojha, GM Srivastava, Bidya Rao, Susan Das Choudhury, Manju Bora, Jebin Ghosh Dastidar, besides the Thai beauty experts — Radayu Katephoka, Jaruda Rakprachawut and Rachata Kiatkhumkan.

Art for a cause  Reiterating its commitment to social cause, Amway India as part of the company’s 50th anniversary across the globe, recently organized a countrywide painting competition billed ‘Nanhe Chitrakar’ where children splashed their canvas with a riot of colours to bring alive the theme wildlife and environment. In Guwahati, Amway Opportunity Foundation — the corporate social responsibility arm of the company — that initiated the event also involved children from Arohan, a city-based child welfare trust working for the development of the underprivileged in their artistic and cultural pursuits. Held in two categories, the competition was also simultaneously organized at Shillong, Silchar, Kohima, Dimapur, Aizwal, Tinisukia, Jorhat, Agartala, Imphal, among others in the Northeast.

Simanta / Mridumoloy