Club 65 Celebrates Christmas Early

By Dr. Jaseem Pasha

HOUSTON: The Houstonian Seniors’ Club 65 hosted the third annual Christmas Party on December 6 at Bayland Community Center, at 6400 Bissonnet Street in Houston. It was indeed a fun filled afternoon.

The members and the guests arrived on time. Many came in festive apparel, few even wore Santa’s red hat. The hall was packed. There was an air of exuberance, smiles and hugs. The tables looked colorful with Christmas figurines.
The entire hall sprang into life as soon as Paru McGuire, the President of Club 65, took the microphone in her hand. They welcomed her with a big round of applause. Paru shared the highlights of the awaited program with the audience.

Majid Soudagar sang a very old ghazal, full of impassioned poetry. Taiyeb Shipchandler, an esteemed member of the Club, “Kaka”, as he is called out of love and respect, sang a very beautiful old song.

Mulik Sayeedi sang an old classic Indian heart-rending song, and as usual, shared few jokes that made everyone laugh.

Uma Mantravadi, Attorney at Law, and Houston’s foremost sensational singer paired up with Nadeem Ashrafi, who is a singer and keyboard player. Nadeem has served desi music industry for more than three decades. He is well known for his Ghazals and versatile singing orchestration in many languages and has performed all over North America.

Both Uma and Nadeem engaged the audience with old and new songs. The selection of melodious songs was sensational, ranging from romantic ecstasy and rapture to fast dancing melodies. They sang duets that were tender, touching, nostalgic and powerful, punctuated with frequent rounds of applause. Uma sang the famous Shah-e-Madina.

Nothing prompts people to remember the past like music. Many from audience came to the floor and danced – and danced, as if there was no end to it, reminding us of an old Irish quote: “Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening.” Music does wash away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

The event ran between 11 AM to 3:30 PM. The grand finale was the spiritual qawwali song “O Lal Meri Pat Rakhiyo Bala Jhule lalan – – -Dama Dam Mast Qalandar”

Everyone had a good time, socializing, singing and dancing, and relishing the delicious food. There was gift exchanges. Noor Jahan called out the names of the guests who chose from the colorful packaged gifts, which created a lot of excitement. It was a very successful event.

Club 65 is a non-profit organization under the umbrella of IMAGH (Indian Muslims of Greater Houston). To find out more about Club 65 or to become a member, visit, www.imagh.org or call Paru Mcguire at 440-390-1763.