Photo Gallery - Car Rally

There was a nip in the air but CATS were busy

working out the strategies and formulae to win the rally...

despite practically each of the CAT Drivers and Navigators

cutting their teeth in Rallying for the first time...

Whilst the passengers had a merry time over a cuppa cha :)


As the flag off was getting delayed, CATS noticed a bouquet lying on the podium... We thought of putting this forlorn looking bouquet to a better use.. We distributed each of the gerberas to the driver felines and the white drops foliage was given to each of the navigators, to keep peace in the car once the rally begins ;-)


It was really great fun... CATS were amusingly happy with the blooms... till we saw one of the organisers Gauri walking towards us with sheer horror writ across her face!!



What we had assumed to be a lonely looking bouquet, had actually been put on the podium for the Chief Guest!!!

YES... I put my hand up... CATS looted the bouquet... WITHOUT GUILT ;-)

Team of CATS posing gleefully for the cameras..
9 cars comprising of 27 drivers, navigators and co-passengers participated in this car rally...

Hip Hip MEOW :)

As the kick off was still no where in sight, CATS decided to make productive use of their time... We went towards the Vintage Cars Section of the rally and inspected each of the golden beauties.. rightfully so ;-)

This lovely Mini drew every CAT's attention when it rolled in.. Upon seeing a 'Punjabi sized' driver in this tiny car, CAT AP could not resist commenting, 'It seems that in the process of feeding the driver, they forgot to feed the car!!!'

The sister of the driver heard the wise crack..

fortunately they turned out to be friends...

Jaako Raakhe Saiyaan, Maar Sake Na Koe ;-)

Whilst the rest were busy in entertaining themselves, CAT Harpreet chose to focus on the rally with his driver Kanchna...

At 9am, all of us packed ourselves into our respective cars

full of determination and hope in our hearts...

and.. errrr... butterflies in our stomachs!!

Well.. it was first time for all of us you see..
not only the cars.. but the relationships were at stake here in each car ;-)

Since ALL of us were busy either driving or navigating or yelling or simply getting lost along the way... no one had the time to take the pictures of CATS through the bellowing dust on the challenging non-tarmac roads in the hills leading to Barog..

In the process of reading the Road Book upside down and peeling the eyes open to spot the ever so important TCs and PCs to keeping an eye on the mileage counter and working furiously on the calculators or calling up fellow CATS to ensure we were on the right track having got all the stamps.. Phew... Some pencils got thrown out of the cars... Some Road Books got thrown on the floor.. Some wrong turnings were taken... and some tempers got flared...

Blimy.. It was hard work!

Given that CAT Rita and our car had missed a TC, CAT Ashish A gave up on navigating CAT Gopika in the first 15mins, CAT Rachna was spotted running amok in all directions a few minutes into the rally, CAT Kanchna's car not noticed much along the way,CAT Sandy was way behind in Chandigarh whilst rest of us had almost crossed Panchkula, CAT Gurneet and CAT Monica's car simply missed the 'Chakki Ka Mor' and went app.20kms off track courtsey their respective navigators, our hopes of winning any position in the rally at that time rested on our calm and collected CAT AP navigating CAT Mona.

Chal Akela Chal Akela Chal Akela...

Tera Mela Peechhe Chhoota Rahi Chal Akela...

Though tempted many a times to give up along the way,

CATS kept driving and calculating...

Stop not till the goal is reached...

Whilst the (allegedly called) adult CATS were busy analysing the rally,
the young CATS had a gala time at the resort...

Tired CATS resting a while after lunch at Barog...

Special recognition was given to CATS having given 9 teams to the rally of 29 participants... The only consolation :(

We were surprised and equally disappointed that none of our CATS, especially CAT AP and Mona got a position in the rally, but that did not stop us from having fun!

Though this guy's jacket read PANK rather than PUNK, for the benefit of CAT Paramjeet who was ready with his camera, CAT Charanjeet actually went upto him and said, 'Sir, what a nice jacket you are wearing!!'

CATS after having spent a memorable day on the road...

with little 'participants' trophies and roses in their hands and

heart full of stories to share with our grand children!!

At 4pm we started our journey towards Chandigarh..

But not without sharing a steaming cup of coffee at CCD before Jabli to lick our wounds and for a feedback session.. Some drank.. others ate... rest snored !!!

We believe in complete democracy you see ;-)

I could not possibly end this travelogue without sharing a memorable story with you from the day. CAT Ashish A having done 3 rounds of Fortis Hospital in the very beginning, realised that he's facing an uphill task in navigating CAT Gopika. He spotted us at some point and asked CAT Gopika to blindly follow us! Upon leaving the national highway when he reached TC4, the TC Marshall said to him, 'Sir, you have missed the first 3 TCs.' Quick qitted that he is, CAT Ashish A said, 'Shukar kero tum mil gaye!!'

JAI HO :)

We may not have won any awards, but had won many a hearts though. Full marks for our dear CAT Aradhika also who gave full support to CATS through the complete process. We are also grateful to Mr JD; CEO of SantaBanta.com for having agreed to contribute towards eduCATe under their CSR initiative.

- CAT Supreet

CATS Car Rang Rally(iaan)

Master Piece by CAT Charanjeet

(This sketch was quickly drawn of Rally Car No.25, whilst waiting for a fellow rally driver.

Driver is CAT Sandy, Navigator is none else but our very dear cartoonist CAT Charanjeet with passengers CAT Aman and CAT Amanat)

Car Rally Results

Hey CATS,

Something we ALL had been waiting for since we touched the finishing line of the Car Rally on 08th of March'09.

Though virtually every CAT Driver and Navigator had never participated in a car rally previously, we missed the rally positions on the finishing line by a mere whisker. My own car missed 3rd position by 4mins, despite missing a TC! CAT Sandy's car missed a position by 8mins too.

As had been requested of me by many participating Rally CATS, I have also compiled the position of every CAT amongst the participating 9 CATS teams.

No. Make... Driver... Navigator... Car. No.. Rally No .. CATS No.
1.....Swift.... Supreet...Paramjeet.....22 ...........4..............1
2.....i-10 ......Gopika ...Ashish A .......23 .....Time Out......Joint 8
3.....Alto ......Gurneet .Navpreet ......13 ..........25 ..........7
4 ....Tavera .Kanchna .Harpreet ......15 ..........7 ............4
5 ....Zen .......Monica ...DV Bhatia .....19 .....Time Out.....Joint8 6 ....Swift......Reeta .....Raj .................18...........6 ............3
7 ....Alto .......Rachna ..Sandeep B .....1 ............12 ..........6
8.....Palio ......Mona .....AP ..................20 .........10 ..........5
9.....Ikon...... Sandy ....Charanjeet ....25...........5.............2

Please find below the links of the car rally results as well as the pics that have been posted on Santa Banta website.
Pics: http://www.santabanta.com/gallery.asp?parent=Events&cat=SB%20Women%20Car%20Rally
Results: http://rally.santabanta.com/result.html

Photos from the cameras of our CATS would be posted onto CATS blog, provided everyone gives me the pics!!

MEOW
CAT Supreet

Photo Gallery - CATS 5th Blood Donation Camp

The morning of 27th of February, 2009.

9am and we were all set with our refreshments, along with herbal medicinal plants as gifts for all the donor CATS at the Rotary Blood Bank and Resource Centre.

Sixty herbal medicinal plants were very kindly donated to us by Mr Ishwar Singh, (Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden of Chandigarh). We had plants to take care of common and chronic ailments like coughs/colds, Asthma, to Aloe, Henna, diabeties control to increasing immunity.

CATS were also given an additional special gift by Liza of 'Ek Chhoti Si Asha'. Liza gets hold of beggers from the streets and markets of Chandigarh and brings them to her centre in Sec.15. Here she teaches them to make goods like cloth/jute bags, pen holders, file covers, pouches, shopping bags etc. Liza kindly gave me her hand made pen holders as a gesture of gratitude towards all the donor CATS who come forward every 3 months to donate blood - the most noble of all causes.

Thank you 'Ek Chhoti Si Asha'

I was extremely disappointed to be rejected on grounds of low Hb for the second quarter in a row. Additionally, though we were all prepared to be inundated with the donors, as had happened in our previous in November, time was ticking away but no one had turned up.

CAT Devinder finally came at 11.15am to give us the first donor of the day.

Our Dulhan CAT Jasmine came on the day her friend was to get married, just to help me organise the whole day. She had dragged along a good friend, who was also unfortunately rejected on health grounds, along with CAT Jasmine.

CAT Kapil came around noon, followed by another young Sardar Ji who had come with his mother, but whom none of us knew. In the refreshment room I asked him if he knew about CATS, to which he quickly responded, 'I dont know about others, but I am a CAT!'

That waas enough to win our hearts.. Welcome aboard CAT Harpreet :)

CAT Harpreet and his mother liked the handmade pen holder so much that immediately he pulled out a note and asked me to give it to 'Chhoti Se Asha'. Seeing his gesture, others followed suit.

Soon after our regular CATS started coming in singles and twos. CAT Navpreet, CAT Ashish A, CAT Kapil donated blood for the **5th time in a row with CATS.

**(READ donated blood every 3 months in a row)

THREE CHEERS TO THEM - Meow Meow Meow :-)

CAT Paramjeet started making frantic calls to friends and colleagues which brought in a trickle of paws through the door. It was getting way past 1pm and we had not even touched the double digit mark. It was very disheartening indeed.


CAT Paramjeet even drove 10miles to go and fetch CAT Gurneet from home... Anything for a good cause you see.. CATS are very resourceful :)

CAT Gurneet happened to be our second feline to donate blood, after CAT Madhvi came before going to her office a little while earlier.

The pen holders were being appreciated by everyone in the meantime. Donors had a tough time choosing the medicianal herbal plants from about a dozen varieties we had brought in.


If disappointment was writ large on our faces, there were a few pleasant surprises too. Since our regular donor CAT Anu A was rejected on medical grounds, she sent in her friend Capt Brij Pal to donate instead. A friend of Liza and a 'once' CAT turned organic farmer, Gaurav trooped in to donate blood too. Infact, so huge was the change in his appearance that he had to re-introduce himself! Gaurav stayed put to help me out after CAT Jasmine left around 2pm.

Gaurav has also offered to organise a bon fire night at his farm for the CATS. He's planning to bring in bullock carts to transport CATS from the mainroad to his farm! Add fresh, soup/sandwiches, guided tour of the farm, opportunity to cook food in the community style kitchen. Gaurav may be a farmer, but he sure has great ideas :)

Between 2pm-3pm some regular donors from Smart Data Inc. (SDI) walked in to bring some cheer along.

Thank you CAT Anu C, CAT Abhijit and their CEO Mr Tewari for keeping up with your kind gesture with tenacity.

I could not finish off the day without thanking Mr Madra of Bay Infocomm as well, who sent half a dozen donors along for our camp, most of them regulars with us now.

The donation pen holder of 'Chhoti si Asha' was full of notes. There was a note of every denomination, including the coins. CATS donated a sum total of Rs.1000/- to 'Chhoti si Asha' with their 'Chhoti se Koshish' by the end of the day. A thunderous applause also goes to Mr Ishwar Sigh for giving us 60 medicinal herbal plants. Each of the remaining plants was duly distributed after the camp.

Around 3pm CAT Ashish A got lunch for 5 of us from his home. His mother sent a delicious lunch for the hungry and somewhat disappointed CATS of the day. We finished the day with the count of 23. We walked away feeling really low, but determined to make it a better show next time.

Hum honge kaamyaab.....

- CAT Supreet
(27th Feb'09)

CATS 5th Blood Donation Camp - Roll of Honour

DONOR's ROLL OF HONOUR

1. CAT Devinder


2. CAT Madhvi


3. CAT Kapil (Bay Infocomm.)


4. CAT Harpreet


5. Bhupinder (Bay Infocomm.)


6. CAT Navpreet


7. Rohit Verma (Smart Data Inc.)


8. Sushil (Bay Infocomm.)


9. CAT Ashish A


10. Capt Brij Paul


11. Ankesh Bharti (Smart Data Inc.)


12. Jitender Behl (Smart Data Inc.)


13. Devinder Pal Singh (Smart Data Inc.)


14. Manmeet Singh (Smart Data Inc.)


15. Siva Kumar (Smart Data Inc.)


16. Munish Sood (Smart Data Inc.)


17. CAT Gurneet


18. Manoj (Bay Infocomm.)


19. Jagbandhu (Bay Infocomm.)


20. Vipul Bhandari


21. Vikramjit Singh


22. CAT Vasu

NEARLY DONORS (Deferrals List)

1. CAT Supreet


2. CAT Jasmine


3. Heena


4. CAT Paramjeet


5. CAT Gopika


6. Gaurav Sahai


7. Ruchi (Bay Infocomm.)

Photo Gallery - Tanda Heritage Village Biking Trip

The beauty of this biking trip was that we started biking from Chandigarh, rode through dry rivulet beds, running choes of Punjab villages of Naya Gaon, Karoran, Nadha, Tandi and Tanda to finish biking in the first village of Haryana called Prempura.

With a chill in the air, the bright sunday morning of greeted CATS at Karuna Sadan...
Our 'Gali Ke Munde' busy on the 'Geri Route' ;-)

All jokes aside, CAT Aman takes the credit of being the youngest in this biking trip at 7yrs with a colourful bicycle that was also the tiniest in the group!! Such is the determination of our young CATS that CAT Aman had recently learnt to bike as he did not wish to sit in the car as he had to 3 months ago during the Jayanti Devi Biking Trip.

CAT Ansh is only 4 months older than him and CAT Rattan is 8yrs old... The credit for the eldest member is to be shared between CAT Rajpal and/or CAT Maharaj... CAT Tony chose to play 'Guard' and stay right at the back to ensure no one got lost along the way... CAT Rajpal as usual our First Aid Officier and CAT Rachna our Doc-on-duty!

29 CATS set pedals to work in a very scenic part of our City Beautiful...
It was getting superbly quiter after we crossed Naya Gaon village.. Air was fresh and birds had started making their presence felt...


But the tarmac road disappeared soon!!
CAT Sandeep watching over CAT Surbhi, who's trying to cross the first choe... Meow


Yes.. indeed is a common sight and that too within 5kms from the boundary of Chandigarh!!
Camel is King here :)


Not just the missing roads or the dry choes, CATS had to pedal their way through the watery rivulets too... A few of us brave hearts refused to get down the bicycles whilst the rest of us got down for safety reasons... One elderly bystander took pity on CAT Aman and helped him, who was struggling to cross the slushy path with his tiny bicycle in tow...

WE made an impromptu stop an Tandi village to pay respects at the local deity's temple set atop a small hillock... At first half the CATS refused to climb up saying this stoppage was not mentioned in the factsheet!! However.. everyone started trudging along to reach the top...

But not till CATS had fed their bellies with some home made cake baked by our darling CAT Gopika (err.. Dopita!!) the previous night...

And discussed certain species of birds courtsey our Bird Watcher CAT Rima, who held everyone in awe with her immense knowledge...

It's not every day that you get to see a 'quite' Ansh you know ;-)

Though everyone had reached the top sooner than imagined.. The views were splendid and is was fascinating to this this wilderness spread ahead of you which is only miles away from the bustling and busting Chandigarh!

Biking after years can come as a real shoker, as it did happen to many of us! CAT Gurinder asked CAT AP, 'So how's it going?' Resting on a log he quipped, 'Poonchh nikal gayi, Haathi reh gaya!!'

Another unusual site was to see a Sikh temple priest...

Incase you are wondering what these children are looking at so intently... then just look below!!

Little CAT Aman pushing his little bicycle through a tough terrain with great tenacity, despite being offered a ride in the car of CAT Paramjeet; our recovery vehicle!

Infact such was the grit and determination of this little boy that even his father, CAT AP did not have the courage to come off the bike, even when he felt tired!

Equal kudos must be given to our 12yrs old Shaurya who's tyre busted beyond repair within a few kms into the trip. Instead of hopping into the car, she requested our bicycle repair man to lend her his bike instead so that she could continue biking through!

Soon after 10am we reached Prempura village whereby we were greeted by pretty village damsels fetching water from the village well.. yes the well and not tap water!

Our first stop in the village was the Village School, where we all quickly took position on the jungle gyms, slides, classroom chairs, benches... basically everything meant for children!!

Ab yeh harkatein humari hongi to sara gaon dekhne to zaroor aayega!!!

Billiyon ko dekhne ke liye gaayein bhi utaavali ho uthi !!!

Despite feeling like Show Pieces, CATS actually had a great time in the 'classroom'...

The Sarpanch of Prempura Mr Satnam Singh with the active assistance of Village Teacher Mr Jetinder Singh had made simple yet beautiful arrangement for CATS at the village.

Whilst waiting for piping hot masala chai, CATS are making themselves comfortable in the primary school building of Prempura and promptly switched into the ‘Class Room’ mode.

...and there was plenty to learn about basic moral values...

a beautiful child in the arms of a pretty village belle..

Seeing these two girls made the reality hit even harder on CATS that this village with a total population of app. 500 people had 150 school going children. Till a year ago, the school was only functional till the primary level and the school was only recently upgraded to the secondary level. The school building consisted of a hall divided into two classrooms while the open verandah became the third classroom. This small area is supposed to cater to 150 students every working day! Another harsh truth behind such beautiful female faces was that no girl ever from the village had studied uptil class 8... What progress are we talking about CATS???

We really never count our lucky stars... do we??!!!

Sarpanch Satnam Singh gave us a guided tour of the village, which was amazingly clean devoid of any smells or undue litter...

Little CATS mesmerised by the sight of a frail bitch feeding its’ young pups... whilst our naughty CAT Ansh wanted to see how the bitch reacts if prodded with a stick (which he assumed was a sugarcane!!)... CAT Amanat wanted to know if she could give food to the bitch as her bones were sticking out...

The sights and scenes our young CATS witnessed during the guided tour of this old village offered a new insight of life, especially for the ones who have been brought up on the popcorn culture of malls and senitised homes.

A woman re-carpeting her kitchen floor with a mixture of water, mud and cow dung...

A 'havan' in progress at the 'khera' of the village...
For the uninitiated, a tree is planted when the village originally begins no matter how many years ago it was... This place is called khera... This is usually the place where the community gathers for fun frolick and to discuss important matters.

CAT Rachna got the children together and set up this transit 'hand-wash' facility before langar :)

CAT Sandeep, CAT Surbhi, CAT Maharaj, CAT Pradeep and CAT Tony quickly joined me and formed a langar thali distribution queue... Mouth watering saag and makki di roti was very affectionately cooked by various villagers..

Village Sarpanch and Teacher themselves served the food for us... CATS were humbled indeed by their generosity... They could not do enough for us and we could not thank them enough...

We said our goodbyes after promising the village Sarpanch and the Teacher that we would do our level best to help them upgrade the facilities at the school... This is the least we could do..

Ek Chhota Sa wada... Ek Chhoti Si Umeed...

We need to raise funds for constructing a new hall for the school children... Would YOU like to contribute towards the building fund CATS? Eveery drop helps fill the bucket...

The camel ride was the ultimate icing on the cake of this really meaningful heritage trip....

and if you thought it was just wide smiles all the way... then look at the frightened faces of CAT Amanat, CAT Rhytm and CAT Gopika for confirmation ;-)

aur yeh humari darpoke billiyan nahin hain... sab ka yehi haal tha!!

Whilst CAT Maharaj had to ride home with one hand steering his daughter CAT Shaurya's bike, do you think CAT Tony should be challaned for being on the mobile whilst riding a bike??!!!

Chal chaliye Noodal Baar.... Naal billiyaan do-chaar!!

Just a thought ;-)

The finishing line up of yet another successful and satisfying day.... Hats off to our gutsy little ones - CAT Aman, CAT Ansh, CAT Rattan, CAT Rhythm, CAT Shaurya and CAT Amanat, who all completed this 22kms return trip on their bicycles... Well, I guess we could also commend our older CATS who are still nursing bruises after riding the bikes ;-)

We could not possibly finish off our day without thanking Mr Pramod Sharma from Yuvsatta, without whom CATS would probably never have ventured towards Tanda/Prempura. Pramod not only went with me to conduct a reccee, but he also provided bicycles on rent for us along with parking facility for CATS. THANK YOU Pramod.

See you on the dirt track soon CATS :)

- CAT Supreet