Ikebana and us

16 July 2022 Sogetsu Chennai members' face-to-face meeting was convened at ABK DOSAKAI after a COVID break of 2 years.  After meeting online, 16 members attended the first face to face meeting in several years!  The meeting began on a sombre note, as we paid respects to the memory of  two inspiring individuals;  Shri Pandurang spouse of our dear mentor Mrs Malathi Pandurang and former Japanese PM Mr Shinzo Abe. We began with a 2-minute silent introspection in their memory. Mrs Malathi Pandurang then welcomed Mr Kenji Miyata, Deputy Consul of Japan in Chennai. His wife Christi is also an Ikebana artist.  Mr Shankar Ramamurthy and Mr Kannan specializing in traditional floral artistry,  invited by Dalley Varghese to do a demonstration  on “Man and Plant materials of Tamilnadu”  were received warmly by Mrs Pandurang and the members.    Mrs Pandurang invited Chelvi Gopinath and Bhuvana Shivshankaran to read out  accounts and activities of the previous two years. Our sincere thanks to

April 16th 2022 Eighteen members of our group got together online for our last meeting of the year, via Google Meet.  This would also be the election meeting.  We were all excited, to be electing the first committee of the Branch. Here is the list of new office bearers: Director - Mrs Malathi Pandurang - nominated by Prerana Mehta, and unanimously accepted. Deputy Director - Mrs Chitra Rajan Nominated by Ambika Seconded by Prerana. Second Deputy Director  - Mrs Divya Selvam Nominated by Meenakshi Sarin seconded by Ms Pushkala  Programme Director - Mrs Meenakshi Sarin Nominated by Mrs Malathi seconded by Mrs Bhuvana. Director of Branch Accounts - Mrs Trishala Vaishnav Nominated by Mrs Malathi seconded by Prerana. The election meeting was followed by a Q&A session with Sensei Malathi and a demonstration to highlight artistic space - an area where there were many queries. In her first composition, Sensei Malathi handled an interpretation in nagiere, with a naturalistic expression. Usi