Over two consecutive Sundays on May 26 and June 2, 2019, the Calcutta Parsee Club (CPC) organized a series of events where competition and camaraderie were witnessed: junior boys football match, intra club basketball tournament, fun water games and junior girls basketball tournament, as reported by Calcutta resident Gulnar Mehta.
At the junior football match the Blues team scored four goals with Suriya Katrak and Rishaad Jeejeebhoy making two goals each. The Reds scored two goals, both made by Rayhan Bulsara. When it was time for basketball, the Black team led by Farida Singh emerged winners in "a nail-biting finish.” The evening ended with a contributory Thai dinner.
The "Big Splash” had two relay teams that were assigned different tasks like picking coins from a pool, and filling a bucket while retrieving water in a packet, all while getting drenched with a hose pipe. At the junior girls basketball event, the Red team captained by Sanjana Dutta emerged victorious with Samara Mehta Vyas being the highest scorer. Water melon slices, falooda, chips, lime juice were on sale to help beat the summer heat.
Football enthusiasts in Calcutta
Clockwise from top l: Swim Fest; Big Splash; junior football match in Calcutta
Nearly a month earlier, CPC successfully concluded the 25th edition of its football championships. With 80 teams (including four international ones) participating in the CPC Football Championships that continue over six weeks, it is "possibly the largest amateur football tournament in eastern India,” noted a write-up by Prochy Mehta and Ratan Postwalla. Teams were divided into three categories: Corporate, Club and Masters (over 40).
Teams from Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Cognizant, IBM, ITC and HSBC participated in the Corporate category that was eventually won by Bando Design from Bangladesh. The Club category was won by The Resurrectors comprising several players from the first division of the Kolkata Foot-ball League. In the Masters cate-gory, the home team comprising Dinyar Mucadum, Khurshed Bulsara, Sheryar Katrak, Sanjay Dutta, Rayo-mand Subawalla, Rayzad Bulsara and Postwalla came up trumps with Rayzad being declared the tournament’s most valuable player and Postwalla as the highest goal scorer. The tournament concluded with a gala prize distribution and dinner-dance at the Olpadvala Memorial Hall.
"Several leading lights of Indian football have played our tournament over the years, including legends like Renedy Singh and Jamshid Nassiri and this year was no different with Alvito D’Cunha setting the field alight. It is a wonderful experience for all our amateur and junior participants to get the opportunity to rub shoulders with legends of the sport,” commented the organizers. They appreciated the support of their members, sponsors, partners, well-wishers and a "very loyal group of spectators who are not aligned to any team but come every day to watch the games. But more than that… no words are enough to appreciate the efforts of our team of volunteers (members and non-members) who turned up every day over a six-week period and overcame rain delays, scheduling bottlenecks and every other obstacle to deliver an outstanding tournament that was enjoyed by all.”
CPC’s sister organization, the Saklat Physical Culture Institute had organized a Swim Fest on May 24 when nearly 50 members, mostly children, were in the pool at the Dalhousie Institute Club, splashing about and playing water games while some of the adults were chilling by the poolside with plenty to eat, stated Gulnar Mehta.