Curating Kolkata Kettle....giving wings to our dreams.

 

Kolkata Kettle 3.0

 

It was the month of November 2021 when our Rotary Club had its Board Meeting. A normal meeting with some important decisions…and like if as prepared with little homework, PP’s Rakesh Sahni & Sanjay Choudhary, asked Neeraj, about doing Kolkata Kettle…our classy fund raising event which had taken a back seat because of the Pandemic and after much apprehensions, President said to discuss it offline. After detailed discussions, it was decided to go ahead with the event, maybe of a smaller magnitude. The whole idea was just to keep the brand alive and kicking! After a major hunt, and keeping in mind the summer weather, a tastefully decorated, centrally air-conditioned Krishna Niwas was booked for 8^th & 9^th April.

The main convener was Ruchira Bhuwalka & I was the co-convener with her. When we decided to go ahead with our event, we had only faith in our eyes………Yes! We can do it and we have to do it. No list of participants, no sponsors, no corporate tie-ups, nothing as such…………. only the will to do the event and deliver it in such a grandeur style, that sponsors & the stall owners want to come back again. The hunt started and the quote by Rhonda Bryne, “When you see it in your mind, you will definitely hold it in your hands” was about to hold true for us.

 After working hard on the layout with our in-house architect, Joydeep, and our core committee of Sanjay, Rashmi & Rakesh, both Ruchira and myself were feeling quite edgy, quite apprehensive and experienced many sleepless nights dreaming of the exhibition only. Our homework was failing us and we were having kittens in our stomach. We did not know how and where to start……to be very honest………. only passion and zeal was there in us and that was our driving force. We decided to sit down together and learn to pave our way by calling up various probable’s whose cards we had collected while attending other hi-style exhibitions. Sometimes we were seen mulling over the designs and products offered by various participants and we even wrinkled our noses with that distasteful look for hours; even though we did not have more than 6-7 confirmations out of the 77 planned. We rested our stress on the core committee and they laughed out loud seeing our drooping faces! With the encouraging methodology & strategy of the trio of Sanjay, Rashmi and Rakesh, and with some fine contacts of our KK aunty…. Rashmi, our hard work finally yielded a winner for Midtown! What an exhibition was on the verge of getting curated! After the event was announced on social media, in the first week of March, there was no looking back. We had the liberty to pick and choose the stalls saying a No to some brands, we thought will not match the aura of our Kettle.

 Kolkata Kettle was not just an exhibition of fashion and lifestyle for us; or just crafts and weaves, it was a beautiful sustainable combination exhibition of both segments of fashion & lifestyle industry with a special wedding edit; offering space to the craftsmen from across Pan India at free or nominal charge and to top designers and new start-ups at an affordable range so that each participant goes happy and satisfied.

 The innumerable meetings at Sanjay’s office not only saw us sail smoothly through our fund raiser but also strengthened our bonds. The team comprising of all the wonder woman of Midtown, carried out the work diligently. Managing the payments, getting the sponsorships, updation of excel sheet, creating a broadcast list, coordinating the flight and stay of our dignitaries ( of which we had 3), arranging hampers for bloggers & influencers, harmonizing the requirements of stands, racks etc, correlating with the decorator, calls for pending remittances, decorating the 2-day event, planning the panel discussion, giving the extra warmth and feel to our participants who had entrusted their trust in us, and the list was endless! The media, both social and print, was being efficiently taken care of by our core committee. 

A rippling effect was created by our team whom we had entrusted the handles to make our kettle the much talked about event in the city. Hoardings, t2 insertions, FM and bloggers had done their work well. The Instagram and Facebook page got flooded by our personal creatives. Everyone wanted to be a part of our Kettle and we promised them that we'll connect with them in our next edition.

The first day of the event saw us going helter-skelter from here and there and by noon, the kettle was hot and brewing with its aroma spreading in the entire city of joy. We saw an amazing footfall with everything going as we had planned. It’s rightly said, ‘Enthusiasm is the electricity of life’. We had a huge list who wanted to be a part of our next event which we hadn’t even thought! The interview and live telecast on FM added more flavour to our kettle.

The Club gave us a time which we’ll cherish for years to come. The amount of recognition we received was high enough to work on our dopamine levels for next few months.

After experiencing many ups and downs, both Ruchira and I stood strong working hand in hand and giving each other the much-needed support all the time. Our enthusiasm was backed by our Club’s inspiration, motivation and a pinch of creativity! Much credit goes to our family who was deprived of love from our end as we were too busy in giving wings to our dreams. We stand today, humble and tall, beaming with joy and pride that we could make this happen!

 

Ruchira & Preeti

Convenors KK 3.0

 

 Penned by

Preeti Agarwal