Jayanti Oza
CHICAGO: The summer Picnic was organized by Indian Senior Chicago on Saturday, July 3, 2021 from 10 am to 6 pm, which was enthusiastically taken advantage by 248 members.
Narsinhbhai Patel, president of the organization, welcomed the members and gave details of the picnic program and wished a happy Independence Day.
The joy of meeting each other in person after 16 months due to COVID-19 restrictions was visible on the faces of the members. A hot breakfast of Gota and Fafda-Jalebi was served.
Panna Shah, Usha Solanki and Bhupendra Suthar sang interfaith prayers and then all members recited Shri Hanuman Chalisa. The names of the members whose birthdays fall in the month of July were announced by Bhupendra Suthar and Arvind Kotak and the members sang ‘Bar Bar Yeh Din Aaye Tum Jiyo Hazaro Sal’ and ‘Happy Birthday to You’ song and some prayers were sung.
The members were then divided into two teams and the Antakshari game was played for 30 minutes. Many members sang songs during the Antakshari. Mr. Bhupendra Suthar and Mr. Arvind Kotak organized the program excellently. Mr. Arvind Kotak made some comedy jokes. Then four different types of games were played. Prizes were given to each winner.
| Name of the game | 1ST PLACE WINNER | 2ND PLACE WINNER | 3RD PLACE WINNER | |
| 1 | HOT POTATO | GITA U. SHAH | PREMLATA KAPADIA | PRATIBHA PARIKH |
| 2 | BUCKET AND BALL | DIPAKBHAI SHAH | MANUBHAI SHAH | |
| 3 | LADDER BALL (Man) | JAGDISH SUTHAR | RASHMI PATEL | SHARAD SHAH |
| 4 | LADDER BALL ( Woman) | JYOTSNA SHAH | NALINA CHUDASMA | PANNA SHAH |
Members were served tea, coffee, biscuits, ice cream and watermelon at lunch.
Smt Bhanuben demonstrated yoga asanas and simple exercises useful to seniors. Bhanuben explained in detail how useful regular yoga and exercises are for a healthy and wholesome life.
Manubhai Shah announced the donor’s names for today’s picnic and thanked them. At the end Narasinhbhai Patel thanked the members for participating in today’s picnic, the volunteers who successfully managed the sports competitions and served as judges.
Delicious dinner of laddu, puri, dal, bhat, shak, raitu, papad etc. was served in evening to the members.
