CHECKING IN AT NOVOTEL

A tour of a five-star hotel was on the cards for the YFLO ladies on February 6. The destination? Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residences in Rajarhat. Guided by Surajit Chatterjee, director of F&B, the members checked out sections like the kitchen, the storage area, the laundry and the Premier Lounge that offers a stunning view of the city. The hour-long tour culminated into a brunch at Stud!o, the Pan-Asian restaurant.

 

 

PUTTING UP A FIGHT

 

It was safety first for the ladies at YFLO in Tollygunge Club where they had gathered for Making Safety A Habit, a session with Antra Bhargava, a second dan-holder in tae kwon do. Antra showed some self-defence moves and techniques, while cautioning the audience against the use of pepper spray because one has to be “very close to the attacker”. A tip Shradha took home? “If your grip on the can isn’t very good, he can snatch it and use it on you.”

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

The day before Valentine’s was all about letting loose and breaking into some groovy moves. And the ladies who dropped in at Myx for the YFLO Valentine’s Bash thought it was a well-earned break.

“We’ve worked really hard this year at YFLO and so we wanted to throw a bash to let our hair down, network and bond with the members. The party was especially for empowered women, with the message that they don’t really need a Valentine if they love themselves first!” said Shradha Agarwaal.

BEING FACTORY GIRLS

Shradha Agarwaal, the chairperson of YFLO Calcutta, pens a piece on YFLO’s ‘annual industry visit’...

On the morning of January 16, members of YFLO Calcutta assembled at 4 Ashoka Road where a luxury coach waited to take us to the Keventer Agro plant in Barasat, North 24-Parganas, for our annual industry visit. This visit was especially exciting as we looked forward to learning about not one but four diverse food and beverage plants.

Travelling in the luxury bus gave us a different point of view of the city. We bonded well, chatted, and enjoyed some snacks organised by YFLO.

Upon reaching, we were led to a 50-seater boardroom where we were shown a detailed presentation on Keventer’s history and the various industries and sectors they operate in. Of course, we were welcomed with Frooti, which put us in the mood to know everything about that drink.

We then headed to the packaging unit where small plastic nozzles were being converted to big Frooti and Appy Fizz bottles using air blasting and heating techniques. Tasting Appy Fizz directly from the conveyor belts was as fresh as it could get!
It was the entire process of Frooti manufacturing that we learnt about, like the five-step cleaning process that is carried out after every batch of production.

Next, we headed to the infrared lab, where some machines were the only ones of the kind in the whole country. I was also intrigued to learn that the air we breathed there was so much cleaner than the air in any ICU.
We then headed to the guest house for refreshments. There were samosas, sandwiches and special sweets. The ladies also received gift hampers from Keventer.

Post-refreshments, we went to the banana tissue culture processing plant and learnt how the production process was climate-controlled to ensure high quality. Some of the members bought bananas too!

And then it was time to head to the noodle-making plant. It was extremely interesting to see how flour was converted to YiPPee! noodles in a completely automated way.

We then took a three-minute bus ride to the Metro Dairy plant where milk was being processed, packaged and warehoused. We also visited the ice cream making plant and learnt about how their ice creams are manufactured so soft and creamy.
The visit ended on a sweet note — over ice creams!

“I’m extremely close to my girlfriends and I’m so glad Shradha made this happen. We danced till the last track,” said Shrreya Pande (centre), posing with YFLO members Shillpi Goel and Priyancka Surana (right).