From the President's Desk Let Our Lives Be Not

LEBRAT E IN C October 2020 G YEARS25 C OF LU BLIFE LEBRAT E IN C G YEARS25 C OF L club life U E October 2020 Vol. 01 • No. 25 BLIF Delhi Gymkhana Club, 2, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi 110011 A monthly in-house newsletter for private circulation only FROM THE of the Covid Pandemic, the NCLT/NCLAT Hearings, PRESIDENT’S DESK discussions with the NDMC, Excise Department hearings and progressing of the Audit Report. I have covered these in some detail below, for info of the Members. The Financial Sub-Committee has been regularly interacting with the Auditors of the Club over the month. We have covered a lot of ground towards the finalisation of the report and we are quite hopeful that we will have the draft from them in a few days. The NCLT Hearing was scheduled for 05 October and later postponed to 05 Nov. The NCLAT hearing for the Appeal was held on 07 October and again on 14 Nov. The ASG presented the case for the UoI at these NCLAT Lt Gen D R Soni hearings, whereafter, fresh date for hearing at the PVSM,VSM (Retd) President NCLAT was given as 03 Nov. Dear Members of the Delhi Gymkhana We have interacted with the Excise Department in Club, person, but were dismayed to receive orders from them As we have by and large resumed suspending the Licence of the Club temporarily. We operations of the Club as per have officially replied to their notice and attended their Government Guidelines, I trust this hearing on 28 Oct and are quite hopeful for a positive update finds you and your extended outcome. families well & safe in these trying Regarding our interaction with the NDMC for the times. issues mentioned by me in last Month’s Club Life, our The Month of October was spent in application for the Health Licence for the Cottages and re-opening the Club in the over-hang the Dining Hall are under process. Concerted efforts are Let our lives be Not matter-oriented, but evolution oriented 1 • www.delhigymkhana.org.in RATIN EB G L E C October 2020 YEARS 25 OF E F CLUBLI also on to sort out the issue of Property Tax raised by in the lives of our tennis fraternity. them, according to which the Club was yet to pay the Once again, I commend the ground- Tax with effect from 2010 onwards till date. staff and the Sports SC for a great job To assist the Management of the Club in its smooth done. running, we were pleased to bring on-board Col JP Singh We have yet to finalise the dates for (retd), as the Honorary Secretary. He has hit the deck the AGM and the elections for the running and is suitably ensconced in the chair. General Committee, which is on With the resurgence of the Covid Pandemic in Delhi hold till the finalisation of the Audit and to ensure the safety & well being of our members, Report. We shall intimate you all we have started regular Covid-Tests of our staff. We earliest, once this happens. have had some staff members testing positive, but their Meanwhile, do remember to please numbers are miniscule. We have ensured that while take precautions, for your own health the affected staff member is immediately sent home to & that of others; we are hearing of a recover, the concerned department is shut for a day, fresh wave of the Pandemic hitting thoroughly sanitised and only then reopened. Delhi, from which we pray that you Meanwhile, our sports and indoor game facilities all remain safe, healthy and well. have been re-opened, with suitable restrictions and Wishing you the very best, precautions, based on Government Orders on the May God Bless the Delhi Gymkhana subject. This is likely to remain as the new Normal and Club. I believe we have to learn to live with these changes, which need to be incorporated in our respective life- Jai Hind styles. The tennis Grass-Courts also resumed operations and along with the change in weather, brought a cheer Lt Gen D R Soni PVSM,VSM (Retd) President PREVIEW Flying Down the BUs lane 3 The Jinnah QuesTion 14-15 strong women weak hearts 4-6 Full CirCle 16-17 inDia Becomes malt whisky savvy 7-9 a PeeP in To The PoliCe sTaTion 18-19 i got my Driving license reneweD... almost! 9-10 suCCession Planning 20-23 its calleD ediTorial 24-25 gymkhana memories 11-12 the mighty tweet 13 The glorious Years 26-28 There are no Failures in life... provided We learn from our every failure 2 • www.delhigymkhana.org.in LEBRAT E IN C October 2020 G YEARS25 C OF LU BLIFE to risk that. There had to be another FLYING DOWN THE way out. We would go via several BUS LANE bus stops and ask – literally beg – strangers waiting there if they would But first we had to get two fellow (kindly) agree to ride with us. This travelers was easier said than done. Guys – and In my earlier job, I used to often travel even women – at the bus stops knew to Washington DC. My company did we needed them. The bus fare to DC a lot of work with the World Bank was only one dollar and those buses and I found it very convenient – and are perhaps more comfortable than enjoyable – to stay with my friends, the cars. Knowing all this, our would- the Chandras, in the nearby Virginia be free riders would either look the suburb of Fairfax. other way when we – there were many others like us – approached them or Subhash Chandra worked with the World Bank and so hid their faces behind newspapers. we could commute together every morning. Even though he was in a car pool and one extra person could have Subhash would wind down the glass on conveniently gone along, he would insist on deserting his my side, bend over and ask, “Excuse pool mates for the duration of my stay and take his own me, would you like a ride to Foggy car daily. This way we could chat through the drive and Bottom?” The man or the woman also be free to do some bar hopping on the journey home. would look at us disinterestedly and either not reply or utter an indifferent, There is a “bus lane”, or expressway, between Fairfax “May be, but you will have to drop me and Washington DC. This operated in the direction of DC at American Express (or some other during the mornings and towards Virginia in the evenings. destination).” This could mean an However the rapid transit route – it would save us almost extra red light and several additional half an hour each way – could be used only by buses or minutes, but we had little choice. cars with minimum four passengers. Cursing under his breath but So, if we wanted to use this time-saving route, we had maintaining a big smile on the face, my to find two additional passengers to ride with us. This generous host would say, “Of course, would become a problem if none of Subhash’s friends we”ll do that, please hop in.” A similar were headed the same way at the same time. People were drill would take place at another known to have stop – we needed two VIP riders and used dummies normally there was only one available to get round at the first halt. the rule but, If we got the numbers and at times, they accomplished our mission, we would had been ride our victorious chariot – almost caught by alert like Arjuna in the epic, Mahabharata – cops and made on the Great American Bus Lane. to pay heavy penalties. Krishan Kalra (P-4530) We didn’t want Being nobody is living in the Absolute Present 3 • www.delhigymkhana.org.in RATIN EB G L E C October 2020 YEARS 25 OF E F CLUBLI couple of hours - to ensure that I regained consciousness. STRONG WOMEN Once I was awake and responding, the decision to treat WEAK HEARTS my diseased aortic valve the same day was made - and a couple of hours later I underwent a Transaortic Valve little under Implantation (TAVI) procedure successfully. a year ago Usually valve replacement is done by a major surgical A I got my procedure - with my previous bypass surgery, a repeat second chance at surgery was with high risk and extreme morbidity. With life. my frail health, I would have taken months to recover. In November The TAVI procedure was done under minimal sedation, 2019, I suffered through the artery in the groin similar to an angioplasty a cardiac arrest procedure-and without the chest incision and surgery - on route to the recovery is really fast - within a day I was off supports, Max hospital at Saket, New Delhi. But made to walk and sent home in 4 days. A transformative unlike the majority of people who do technology innovation that allows patients to recover not survive this event, I was fortunate well and fast and most importantly saves lives. And the good news -the procedure is easier and less debilitating enough to survive this near-death than open-heart bypass surgery. I have experienced both experience without damage to my and there is really no comparison. heart muscle or brain, clearly a rare outcome. My aortic valve started showing signs of calcification and narrowing way back in 2016-aortic stenosis. It progressed I owe my life to the quick thinking and rapidly and in 2017, I started getting symptoms of chest immediate support and intervention pain and breathlessness.

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