CHENNAI: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And that was precisely what the third edition of the Battle of the Buffet 2011 achieved with the 2,000 odd guests, who came together to celebrate ‘giving’ at the Chennai Trade Centre in the city on Sunday.Celebrated as part of the Joy of Giving Week, the event saw 12 leading five-star hotels in the city spread a sumptuous buffet with a wide range of cuisines. Over 51 NGOs and 31 corporate houses participated in the event that was organised by Oriental Cuisines and Center for Social Initiatives and Management. In all, `1.30 crore was raised through the sale of dinner coupons and corporate sponsorships.The event began with actor, director and social activist Suhasini Maniratnam sharing the idea behind the Joy of Giving Week with the guests when she said, “This is the third year. This is a brilliant initiative and I have to thank Mahadevan for this.” Apart from tickling the taste buds, the event offered a treat for music lovers as vocalists S P Sailaja and S P B Charan together with their orchestra belted out Kollywood hit songs. The most awaited part of the event was the auction of celebrity memorabilia, with Suhasini donning the mantle of the auctioneer accompanied by actor and comedian Chinni Jayanth. This was a new element added to the celebrations this year.A designer saree worn and donated by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan fetched `45,000 at the auction. A silk saree worn and donated by Bollywood actor Rekha too came under the hammer and was sold for `35,000. “When I told her about donating her saree, she spent one hour telling me about the gold colour saree and what the saree and ‘giving’ meant to her,” the Suhasini said. Another saree donated by Suhasini herself went for Rs 50,000. “The money from the auction will go to Naam Foundation. The saree I have donated was the one I wore when I received my National Award for the movie Sindhu Bairavi,” Suhasini said.The auction picked up momentum when Suhasini displayed a white T-shirt that had a group photo of South Indian filmstars and was signed and donated by superstar Rajinikanth. “When I told Rajini, a year back about auctioning a T-shirt signed by him, he was curious to know why. This is the perfect place to auction and I will go and tell him what I did with it,” Suhasini added. The T-shirt was auctioned for `65,000 amidst huge applause and cheers from the guests.Speaking at the event M Mahadevan, managing director, Oriental Cuisines, said, “This response we have got shows that we have a positive India amidst the negatives we see. I thank all those who donated. It is not for the food but for the cause. We started with Rs 75 lakh that we got in the first year. This year, we have received Rs 1.34 crore (excluding the auction).” The representatives of the NGOs who spoke at the event, described their work. “We are grateful. We have raised Rs 31 lakh. Thanks to the trustees. We have 180 patients to whom we offer dialysis for free and for subsidised rates. Hats off to the Battle of the Buffet,” said Latha A Kumaraswami, Managing Trustee, TANKER Foundation.
Comments
0 comment