’Tis the Season of Giving and I look back at the generosity of the mahjong group while giving for charity
- Hazel Kocherla, RM Central
The Queens of Tiles raised ₹1,01,650 ever since we began ‘Learn and Play Mahjong for Charity’ on March 3rd at the Mahjong Room. The weekly contribution of ₹200 from members and ₹400 from non-members went towards our charity fund.
It all began on January 30th with an event to kick off the Chinese Year of the Rabbit with a Mahjong & Dim Sum lunch at the Mahjong Room (Welcom-Hotel by ITC). The day was a great success attended by regular mahjong enthusiasts who shared their skills with first timers. The room was full of energetic eagerness for the game with many requests for a repeat mahjong day.
The Central Team know how addictively fun mahjong can be and, with such popular demand, I offered to organise it as a weekly activity by teaching the game to our ICB members and their guests while collecting a small contribution for charity. Orit Shulman, the new VP Activities & Events, okayed it as an ICB activity and we got set to go. Monica Shield-Engels started Fun Board Games in Whitefield and the Central Chapter got a great offer from WelcomHotel to hold it in the Mahjong Room Restaurant.
Some unsuspecting members were afraid to commit every week; they’re the regulars now and some graduated to teaching newcomers. Everyone really loves that this game is just hard enough; not too easy, not too hard. Just that sweet spot of using our brains while having a great day & participating in community camaraderie.
Rajni Mohinani got cooking during the mango season with bottles of her special mango chutney to raise funds for Team ICB (Liav, Caron & Silvie) who participated in the July ProVision wheelchair race. Our membership increased every month and so did our extra events. We closed 2023 with a fun staycation bootcamp for competitive mahjong at the foothills of Nandi Hills to prepare for an upcoming Christmas tournament. The tournament was organised by Lin Cooper and attended by 24 members & members' guests. By popular demand, Susan David, Renuu Paul & Ashta Singh also started Tiles ‘Galore every Saturday for working women.
I appreciate the kindness shown by the management of WelcomHotel who make a private venue available to us for this weekly activity. I am also incredibly grateful to everyone who attended and contributed through 2023. You have helped make our activity an encouraging success. All this would not have been possible without the invaluable support of Camilla Lehne, Chiyo Asazuma and Lin Cooper who individually and collectively make sure that this activity runs smoothly every week.
The Queens of Tiles are ready to roar into the Year of the Dragon with weekly competitive ‘fun’draising and fun mahjong activities & events.
