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2010 Senior Citizens Coffee Group

Date 21st February 2010
Event First Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description
The first Senior Citizens Coffee Group for the year 2010 was held on 21st February at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Sixteen seniors attended this session and they were glad to be back to their usual club. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up with the latest happenings in our Parsee jagat back in Mumbai thru Jam-e-Jamshed, we asked seniors what they would like to do this time. The seniors were happy to play Housie and so we started the day with a cuppa and NZ style fafra. And then all eyes were focussed on the housie tickets as we played a couple of games.

From this year onwards, the ZANZ committee has decided that we will celebrate our seniors' birthdays each month. This past Sunday we celebrated Ms. Mani Mowji and Mr. Noshir Elavia's birthday. We arranged for a birthday cake and amidst the birthday song and smiling faces the cake was shared by all.

Mr Parvez Irani won most of the housie games and the seniors were delighted to get chocolates each time they won. Thanks to Benifer Irani for donating Sanjeev Kapoor's pickles and spices as prizes for Housie. She was also a volunteer on that day.

Finally it was time to wrap up the innings and our famous Parsee line was to be heard from all "Bye Bye, chalo aapre pacha malsu. Chokos thee aavjo". The merriment, laughter and companionship which our seniors enjoy with each other bears testimony to this wonderful event hosted by ZANZ.

We would like to thank Benifer Irani, Jimmy Mehta and Delsey Daruwalla for driving seniors to and from the coffee group.

We currently don't charge the seniors to attend the coffee groups. In order to continue doing so, this year we're asking for donations to support the Senior Citizens Coffee Group.The cost for each Senior Coffee Group is $35. If you or your company can sponsor a coffee group, we would greatly appreciate your generosity.

A very generous donor, who would like to remain anonymous, sponsored this first coffee group for 2010. We hope that more of you can sponsor future events.

If you know of any Zarthosti seniors who would like to join this group please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Date 14th March 2010
Event ZANZ's Second Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description
On the 14th of March 2010, ZANZ had its second Senior Citizen's Coffee Group of the year, at Howick Recreation Centre. Everybody was on time and we had 15 seniors who were happy to meet each other once again. News and recent happenings were being shared amongst the seniors and this time for a change they wanted to play carrom and housie. Tea and snacks followed. The ladies were very keen to play housie so they formed a little circle and all eyes were focussed on their tickets as Kashmira Kambatta started reading out the numbers. A special thanks to Kashmira Kambatta for volunteering that morning. Playgin carrom is still a passion with our Parsees and this was enjoyed by all the eight players. We have some good players in our seniors club.

At the beginning of 2010, we decided to celebrate our senior's birthdays as mentioned earlier. This month we celebrated Siloo Taraporewalla's birthday. Unfortunately, she was away that day and we still celebrated and sang 'Happy Birthday'. The cake was enjoyed by all with the theme 'hali mali neh saathe khaiye'.

Katy Irani was not only the winner, but the champion for the day as she won most of the housie games. Chocolates, achars and masala packets (kindly donated by Benifer Irani) were given out as prizes.

We also asked our seniors if they would be keen for an old / new hindi movie sometime in June as winter will start and it will be a good outing for all. The response was very favourable and we've started planning for this.

We all had a fun and enjoyable morning with our seniors as we put a smile on their faces. A big thanks to Daliah Kermani for arranging transportation of some of our seniors from central Auckland.

We would like to thank Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizen's Coffee Group. The seniors were overwhelmed and appreciate this generosity. Our seniors are already looking forward to the next one which will be held on the 11th of April 2010, same place same time. We hope to see all the seniors there.............

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Date 11th April 2010
Event ZANZ Third Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description
The Senior Citizens Coffee Group was held on 11th April at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The seniors exchanged pleasantries and were glad to meet again.

We started the day with tea/ coffee and some light snacks. The seniors then decided that they would like to play housie games with a little bit of variety. After playing two games we then decided it was time for us to celebrate the birthdays of our seniors Ms Perviz Mogrelia and Arnavaz Irani. Unfortunately both of them were not able to attend this event.

As this was our Parsee month "Avan Yezad" we thought it would be appropriate to have dar ni pori for our seniors. A birthday candle was lit on two dar ni poris and the seniors celebrated amidst maja masti and the birthday song. Five delicious dar ni poris were generously supplied for this event at cost by Ms Delna Mistry's in-laws. The seniors couldn't believe that they were having dar ni pori in NZ in "Avan mahino" and were absolutely gobsmacked.

We continued with the housie games thereafter. The winners were given chocolates which obviously they wanted to take home and share with their grandchildren.

We would like to thank Ms Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizens Coffee group. Jimmy Mehta and Kashmira Kambata were volunteers on that day.

Finally it was time to wrap up the innings. The seniors are eagerly looking forward to attend this event again next month on 9th May.

If you know of any Zarthosti seniors who would like to join this group please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Date 9th May 2010
Event ZANZ's Fourth Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description
The Fourth Senior Citizens Coffee Group was held on 9th May at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Thirteen seniors graced this occasion. The morning began with our seniors catching up on the latest news by going thru the Parsi vernacular newspaper and some publications of Hamazor and Parsiana which were kindly donated by our member Darius Mistry.

We started the day with tea/ coffee and delicious spring rolls prepared by a committee member. We briefed our seniors on the program for July's get together where a Hindi movie will be showed accompanied by lunch. We also informed them that transportation will be arranged by us and more details of this will be communicated in our forthcoming notice. We played housie games differently from the regular prizes of first, second and third line and this kept the seniors challenged. After playing two games we then decided it was time for us to celebrate the birthdays of our seniors Ms Mana Vajifdar, Nargish Tata and Perin Daruwala. Two candles were lit on a yummy chocolate cake prepared by a committee member. Unfortunately Perin Daruwala and Nergish Tata, could not attend this event. Ms Mani Mowjee seemed to be in an exuberant mood and she sang a couple of old hindi songs to entertain all of us. Some birthday songs and also some classic songs extolling the virtues of Mother to grace Mother's day were enjoyed and chorused by all.

At the April coffee group the seniors were treated to dar ni pori which was sponsored by one of our members who would like to remain anonymous. Thanks to this member for the benevolent contribution. We inadvertently missed out in thanking this person in our last write-up.

We continued with the housie games thereafter. In our next session the seniors would like to play rummy so it is now going to be a different ball game for the next session.

We would like to thank Ms Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizens Coffee group. This is the third of the six sessions she has sponsored. Binaifer Irani and Kashmira Kambata were volunteers on that day.

Finally it was time to wrap up the innings. The seniors are eagerly looking forward to attend this event again next month on 9th May.

Our next meeting will be held on 13th June 2010. If you know of any Zarthosti seniors who would like to join this group please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Date 13th June 2010
Event ZANZ's Fifth Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description
Our Fifth Senior Citizens Coffee Group for this year was held on 13th June at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Twelve seniors graced this occasion. Our morning started with the usual greetings. Many seniors were thrilled to catch up again and were amazed as to how quickly we seem to be meeting each month.

We started the day with tea/coffee and light snacks. Our seniors were excited for the show time theme which we have decided to organise on 11th July. Everybody was eager to give their names and wanted to know about the arrangements we had made for that day. Once the seniors had their tea and snacks we decided to have card games. Some were interested to chat and relax with occasional jokes and laughter being shared.

After an hour we then decided it was time to celebrate the birthday of our senior Mr Sheri Vaghchhipwala. Mrs Anahita Daruwalla graciously donated a gorgeous cake prepared by her for this session. A candle was lit and to our amazement Ms Nargis Tata also joined in, mentioning her birthday was in May and hence she would also like her birthday to be celebrated. Both Hindi and English versions of happy birthday songs brought smiles on everybody's faces. Nobody could resist having a second helping of the delicious cake. We continued with the card games thereafter.

We then briefed our seniors on the transport arrangement we had made for 11th July. The seniors will be picked up from their homes between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. and we will then proceed to Symonds Street where we have booked a mini theatre to watch a Hindi movie. It seems that our seniors have caught up with the latest in Bollywood and are keen to watch "Three Idiots". The popularity of Aamir Khan & especially aapro Boman Irani seems to have spread to this side of the globe. "Bahuv maja aavse, ganuj fine picture cheh" was the message communicated to all by some seniors. We have also made arrangements for their lunch on that day. Tentatively we should finish for that day by 4.00 p.m. and should be back at home by 5.00p.m.

We would like to thank our member Mrs Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizens Coffee group. This is the fourth of the six sessions she has sponsored. Anahita Aspar was a volunteer on that day. We would also like to thank Anahita Daruwalla for donating a cake on this occasion.

We will be in touch with our seniors in the week leading to July 11th on the timings and the transport arrangement. The Committee members are also equally excited about this forthcoming session.

Regards

ZANZ Management Committee

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Date 11th July 2010
Event ZANZ's Sixth 'Movie Themed' Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Forte Apartments, 37 Symonds Street, Auckland
Description This Senior Citizens Coffee Group was held on 11th July at the Forte Apartments, 37 Symonds Street. It had a show time theme and this was the first ever outing for our SCCG seniors. The seniors were picked up from their homes by volunteers and committee members before 10 a.m. They were taken to the above venue where a mini theatre was booked for them. Fifteen seniors graced this occasion.

The seniors caught up with each other and were thrilled to be in a different atmosphere altogether. We started the day with tea/ coffee and some light snacks. We celebrated birthdays of Kate Daruwalla, Minoo Daruwalla, Thrity Mistry and Katy Irani. Four candles were lit on a delicious cake prepared by a committee member. A birthday song, both in English and Hindi, was sung. The seniors were keen to watch "Three Idiots" so it was back to the theatre room to keep them enchanted. The funny side of this movie kept the seniors giggling and smiling all the way. Boman Irani's antics kept them amused. It was perfect entertainment overall which kept the seniors glued to their seats to the end. Finally it was 2 p.m. and time for lunch.

Delicious "mora dal chawal with fish patio and Aloo mutter with chapatti" were served. Most of the seniors had second helpings and were all praises for the food and chefs. After lunch, gulab jamun was served. It was then relaxing time for the seniors and then one thing led to another and behold, we were about to have an antakshri competition. Songs of yester years were heard along with recent ones. Mani Mowjee and Nergish Sheriari seemed to be the leaders. The committee members also joined in and nobody wanted to call it quits for a very long time. Finally it was past 3:30 and time for tea. Garma garam bhakras were served with tea. Finally it was time to wrap up the innings as it was nearing 4 p.m. The seniors were very happy and enjoyed this day to the fullest.

Our volunteers on this day deserve the biggest accolade. We would like to thank Delsey and Nazneen Daruwalla for taking care of the transportation and helping us out for the whole day. Thanks to Veera Sarkari for preparing tamtamto fish patio. A well deserved pat for Burzis Ustad and Binaifer Aspar who were available at the venue and were always there to give us a helping hand in serving and taking care of the seniors. A fantastic team spirit helped us to make this a momentous day for our seniors. The Committee members prepared the food and snacks and also helped with transportation and took care of most of the things required at the venue. All this would not have been possible, but for a suggestion from our committee member, Paeterasp Vevaina, who booked this mini theatre for the seniors and also took care of most of the facilities at the venue. At the end of the day it was truly a soul lifting experience!

If you know of any Zarthosti seniors who would like to join this group please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards
ZANZ Management Committee

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Date 8th August 2010
Event ZANZ's Seventh Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description Our Seventh Senior Citizens Coffee Group for this year was held on 8 th August at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Twelve seniors graced this occasion. Our morning started with the usual greetings and the seniors were eager to catch up with each other.

We started the day with tea/coffee, light snacks and a lovely cake prepared by Anahita Aspar. Once the seniors had their tea and snacks we decided to celebrate birthdays of Homai Elavia and Shirin Bulsara. Unfortunately both our seniors were not available on that day and therefore we invited Katy Irani (who was not here last month to celebrate her birthday) to cut the cake. This cake was prepared and graciously donated by Mrs. Anahita Daruwalla. Our seniors then relaxed to have a chat and share odd jokes.

Our seniors wanted some action so we played three games of housie. Our volunteer Benaifer Irani kept the seniors amused by her funny lines. She was the darling of that
session. Our member Aspi Shalori joined us for a brief moment and he brought malido for our seniors. Everybody enjoyed this delicious malido. A perfect treat for Sunday
morning!

We would like to thank our member Mrs. Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizens Coffee group. This is the fifth of the six sessions she has sponsored. Anahita Aspar, Paeterasp Vevaina and Benaifer Irani were volunteers on that day. We would also like to thank Anahita Daruwalla and Anahita Aspar for donating a cake on this occasion. Thanks to Aspi Shalori for the malido.

Our next session will be held on 12th September. If you know of any Zarathosti senior who would like to join this group, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards

ZANZ Management Committee
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Date 12th September 2010
Event ZANZ's Eighth Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description Our regular and most popular event was held on 12th September at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A record seventeen seniors graced this occasion. The seniors were picked up from their houses before 10 a.m. and we all met at our usual place. Once the seniors were settled, we started the day with tea/coffee and delicious sev prepared by our senior citizen Mrs. Perin Daruwalla.

We started the day with housie games. Our volunteer Mrs. Benifer Irani provided running entertainment while calling out the numbers. Maja masti, jokes, typical bawajee one-liners and laughter were echoing throughout the games. Our senior Godafrid Irani was having one of those lucky days as she kept on winning prizes. After one game we decided to break the monotony and have an antakshri competition. Four teams participated and this was like a journey going back 20 to 30 years as far as hindi songs were concerned. Mani Mowjee and Godafrid Irani were the Lata and Asha of that day. A perfect entertainment for everyone! We then had a second game of housie.

In this session, we celebrated birthdays of Jeroo Palkhiwalla and Gulnar Irani. Two candles for these seniors were lit on a cake. An awesome cake prepared and graciously donated by Mrs. Anahita Daruwalla was cut by Jeroo aunty. One of our member who would like to remain anonymous, had informed us earlier that the family would like to serve lunch on this day in memory of their beloved mother. Mouth watering Dal chawal with prawns patio and pickles was served. Everyone enjoyed the lunch and the seniors were absolutely delighted. Everyone present that day blessed them with their heart and soul. To top it all, wonderful Parsee lagan nu custard was the icing on the cake. It was a great occasion cherished by all.

We would again like to thank our member Mrs. Navaz Karbhari for kindly sponsoring this Senior Citizens Coffee group. This is the sixth session she has sponsored in succession. Benaifer Irani was a volunteer on that day. We would also like to thank Anahita Daruwalla for donating a cake on this occasion as she has been doing for the past couple of months and Perin Daruwalla for preparing sev. A big round of applause for the family who would like to keep their identity under wraps for their wonderful gesture in preparing this lunch and serving our seniors personally.

Our next session will be held on 10th October. If you know of any Zarathosti senior who would like to join this group, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards,
ZANZ Management Committee

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Date 10th October 2010
Event ZANZ's Ninth Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description ZANZ organized another Senior Citizens' Coffee Group on 10th October at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Fifteen seniors graced this occasion on a wonderful day. The seniors were picked up from their houses before 10 a.m. and we all met at our usual place. Once the seniors were settled, we started the day with garma garam aduvali chai. Tanaz Patrawala graciously offered ravo as it was her dad's (Kersi Karakaria) birthday. Everybody was keen to catch up and aapru manitu Jam-e-Jamshed was seen circulating amongst seniors.

We started the day with celebrating birthdays of our seniors Kersi Karkaria and Godafrid Irani. Godafrid aunty brought a cake to be shared by all seniors. Two candles were lit and everyone joined to the chorus of "Happy birthday" song. ZANZ also organized for a chocolate and jam/cream loaf so it was a very sweet morning snack for all.

We then moved on to housie games. Our volunteer Mrs. Benifer Irani provided good entertainment for our bawajis. We played two games of housie. Chocolate bars & Day and night cream were given away as prizes.

This senior citizen session was sponsored by one of our member who would like to remain anonymous. Benaifer Irani and Anahita Aspar were volunteers on that day. We would also like to thank Godafrid Irani for donating a cake and Tanaz Patrawala for preparing ravo on this occasion.

Our next session will be held on 14th November. If you know of any seniors who would like to attend please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards
ZANZ Management Committee
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Date 14th November 2010
Event ZANZ's Tenth Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description Another month went by and the seniors' attendance at our Senior Citizens' Coffee Group held on 14th November increased to 17 attendees. Our seniors gathered at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. on this wonderful day. They were picked up from their houses before 10 a.m. by the committee members and our volunteers. In the last session our seniors requested that they would like to have Indian / Parsee type snacks so in this session it was all about aapri maniti khari biscuit with garma garam aduvali chai. Our volunteer Anahita Aspar had arranged for spring rolls, samosas, wheatmeal biscuits and some delicious cheese scones. The seniors were very happy with these arrangements. 

We started the day with celebrating the birthday of our senior Bepsey Hansotia and the roj birthday of Tehmurasp Vazifdar. Two candles were lit and everyone joined to the chorus of the "Happy birthday" song. Our veteran Tehmurasp Vazifdar was the joi de vivre of the session. He played two excellent songs with the mouth organ and displayed his exemplary hidden talent.
We then moved on to housie games once again. We played three games of housie and chocolate bars surfaced again as prizes were given to the seniors. Our volunteer Benifer Irani was the housie maestro. She introduced a variety of games each time and kept the seniors entertained.

In our next session to be held on 5th December, ZANZ committee members have organised a dhansakh lunch with kebabs and kachumber. Our seniors wanted to have a Xmas theme for the next session so it will be all red and green costumes with masks and Xmas hats. Watch for this space in our next write-up.
This senior citizen session was sponsored by one of our member who would like to remain anonymous. This was the second of the ten sessions this gentleman has sponsored. Benaifer Irani, Anahita Aspar and Paeterasp Vevaina were volunteers on that day. Thanks to Anahita Aspar for taking care of the snacks.

If you know of any seniors who would like to join this group then please contact us.

With best regards,
ZANZ Management Committee

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Date 5th December 2010
Event ZANZ's Eleventh Senior Citizen's Coffee Group for the year 2010
Venue Howick Recreation Centre
Description This was the last session for our seniors for the year 2010. ZANZ organised the Senior Citizen's Coffee group on 5th December 2010 at the Howick Recreation Centre from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. We wanted to do something different for this end-of-year session and hence decided to organise a lunch for our seniors. We also decided to celebrate Christmas in this session so it was more like a confluence of cultures with WEST meeting EAST.
A record number of twenty-one seniors gathered at the venue. The seniors donned Christmas hats and enjoyed the festive spirit. After our initial round of tea and khari biscuit, we started the day with a round of housie. Our evergreen member Benifer Irani led the charge and we played housie with a Xmas theme.
Our seniors Zarine Khambatta, Daisy Tampal, Pervez Irani, Tehmurasp Vazifdar, Mini Pochkhanawalla and Vicaji Taraporewala were having their birthdays this month so we celebrated their birthdays with Christmas cake donated by Zarine aunty. Six candles were lit on the cake and everyone sang the "Happy birthday" song in chorus.
It was a pleasant day and we decided to make the most of it by inviting our seniors to play Musical Arms outside in the backyard. A breath of fresh air combined with physical activity was a welcome change for all. Godafrid Irani was the lucky winner. We had too many goodies to give away so we decided to play a game of "passing the parcel". Daisy Tampal won this game and we gave her a pack of chocolates courtesy of Shenaz Kapadia who kindly donated some chocolates for this occasion.
It was time for lunch and your committee members had organised chicken dhansakh with kebabs and kachumber. The seniors relished this food and were full of praise for the ZANZ Committee. To complement this delicious food, we served mouth watering apple crumble as dessert. It was a perfect treat on a Sunday afternoon for all our Parsee bawajis.
After having this heavy lunch, the seniors were still keen on playing one more game of housie. Our member Benifer Irani was magnanimous in donating a pack of chocolates and bottles of pickles as Xmas gifts for all our seniors. She has always been a very generous donor at our seniors' sessions. Finally, it was that time of the day when we had to wrap up our innings.
We would like to thank Anahita Daruwalla, Anahita Hansotia, Tanaz Siganporia, Benifer Irani, Zarine Khambatta and Shenaz Kapadia for donating the lunch, dessert, cake and chocolates on this day. We would like to thank our volunteers Benifer Irani and Shenaz Kapadia for donating their time and helping out at this session. We have received immense support and encouragement from many of our members for organising these coffee clubs for our seniors each month.
This senior citizen session was sponsored by one of our member who would like to remain anonymous. We take this opportunity to thank our member for his kind consideration.
We will meet again in the next year with our first session on 13th February. If you know of any seniors who would like to join this group then please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
With best regards,
ZANZ Management Committee
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