A grand goodbye to 84-year-old society in Matunga East

The members organised a four-day event to celebrate the redevelopment and to bid farewell to each other, at Shanti Niketan, Matunga

More than 300 families of Shanti Niketan in Matunga East are overjoyed as their 84-year-old society will go for redevelopment. They organised a four-day event to celebrate this, and to bid farewell to their home and to each other.

They held a night Cricket match on Saturday, a volleyball tournament on Monday and a reunion and farewell dinner on Tuesday. Today, when the residents will go their own way till their society is redeveloped and they are all back again, they will all celebrate Republic Day together. Shanti Niketan was built in 1938, and the residents said that it was just like the Gokuldham society of the famous TV show ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah', where everyone lived like one big family.

Speaking to mid-day Shashin Shah, a member and an event organiser of the society, said, "Our society has got approval for redevelopment and we are very happy about it. In celebration, we organised a four day event. We will also play fun fare games, like thapoo, lagori, dabba, I spy. We never celebrated like this before; this is the first time that we are coming together for a massive merriment. We wanted to make memories with this farewell."

Another society member and event organiser Bhavesh Thakkar said, "We decorated the entire society with lights, stage and even had a DJ with LED wall. We divided the area as per the age group and everyone participated in the events. We also installed a photo booth, hired three professional photographers and two videographers to cover the entire four-day event. We also invited leaders from the area who have always helped us. To remember the old days we spent in the society together, we created a slideshow of photos and videos, and watched them together. It was the best farewell for our society members."