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Come November and we will lose one more family from Kutchvalley to the charms and irresistible call of the motherland. Sanjay Gala and family popularly known as S1 will be heading back to India. One of the oldest Kutchvalley families in the Bay Area, S1’s family was a colorful one as the photo rightly shows. They participated in most of the KV events and had a big hand in initiating some of the events that have now become annual events in the Kutchvalley family (For example, Camping , Pratikaman, Kojain Diwali Party).
Impromptu gatherings at the Gala residence was never a problem for the Galas and teen-patti plus games were enjoyed often by all at their residence.
We are glad that we could spend so much time with the S1 family and built up wonderful memories over the past 10+ years. We will miss them and the void in Santa Clara will take some time to fill. We wish them well in India and hope their background work in relocation will help others who are thinking to move back to India in the near future.
Our paths met and stayed together for a long time but now its time for our paths to separate again as we chase different dreams and hopes. However in this new internet world of facebook, orkut, etc the good thing is that we can catch a glimpse every now and then of each other’s path and there is always the possibility that our paths will cross again and be together for some more time.
Farewell Sanjay, Parul, Aayush, Aarshi. Best Wishes from the KV Gang for a successful future for each one of you !!!
I’ll second, third and fourth on that Prashant.
We have known the Gala family for 10+ years and Sanjay-Parul were the second family we knew after we arrived in the Bay area. We instantly bonded and the Teen-Patti parties were always fun not only for the entertainment value in the game but the comments, jokes and other funny stuff that went around during the game.
Its been ten years that we known them however feels like yesterday that we had met them for the Derashar Bhoomi Pujan.Some one has rightly said “Time flies when you are among friends.”
I am sure our paths will criss-cross given that the previous KV Sanghpati is moving to Mumbai-India and when in India we will surely meet.(salaam dene jana padega… 😉 )
Leaving your comfort zone is scary because if you venture out, you’ll feel anxious. It’s basic human psychology. Even the thought of leaving your comfort zone or circle of fear induces stress and sweat. Sanjay-Parul have taken that step and we wish you all the success and courage for your decision.
Good Bye Good Bye Sanjay, Parul, Aayush and Aarshi.
Well said Prashant..
I can vouch from personal experience that during the valley’s golden time S1 held the fort of being the first point of contact for almost everyone who came here. The Galas were always ready to socialize and offer help – you shall be missed..
But I’m sure S1 will make frequent business trips to the valley for his venture. Otherwise, there is always that India trip to catch up 🙂
Declaring my identity for the previous comment 🙂
We will miss all of you….Best of luck and take care.
It’s been wonderful knowing Parul Sanjay. Sanjay was the first person i met from the bayarea and the first family i met after coming to the bayarea. We soon became an extended family for each other. Those outings, get togethers, sleepovers, improptu potlucks at RGA, kids playdates and much more were lots and lots of fun. As Prashant said, it will take some time for the void in SantaClara to fill up. You will surely be missed 🙁 and i hope our paths cross again. Wish you all the best.
I first met Parul-Amita in 1995/96 when we performed together in a program. After that would run into each other in local train time to time. We met in US again and did few performances together. I am sure our paths will cross in future as well. All thes best to all 4 of you.
Mahesh and me will miss you guys…Good Luck and all the best for the future.
Good luck and best wishes .
You will definately be missed S1. Specially A and A. I can’t even recollect how many times RR have spoken their name in last whole week, after the wonderful time they had during the dance practice.
Hope to follow your path pretty soon… Rest all left to GOD to decide.
Best of Luck and we shall surely be in touch.
When we moved in bay area in Jun 2000, Sanjay and Parul were the first couple to meet in Jain Temple. In past 8 years S1 and Parul not only became close friends but they became part of our family member. You can always count on S1 for any help and he is always there and does it with the smile.
You will surely be missedïŒ, wish you all the best.
I totally agree….one can always count on Sanjay for any help… be it rain or sunshine.
As with quite a few others,Sanjay-Parul were also one of the first new faces we met. I, in particular, was totally amused by the fact that his name was Sanjay Gala ’cause one of my jiju is also called Sanjay Gala 🙂
(& ofcourse I was speechless when in a couple weeks we met another Sanjay Gala -{S2} !!!)
We became very good friends over the years & YES…SANJAY-PARUL…you shall be greatly missed ! 🙁
Kutchvalley is an extended family for all of us & we all share a wonderful bond. Much as it aches to see friends leave this family….we wish you all the luck Sanjay-Parul-Aayush-Aarshi for a wonderful future.
While all other KV families are saying farewell to Gala family, let us be the ones to welcome them to India. Welcome Home!!
Good Luck and Best Wishes.
Yeah S1 seems to be such a popular person…When we moved to Bay Area my cousin in East Coast had given me his reference saying he is a very influential Kutchi man…….and accidently we met S2 at India Cash n Carry…..the minute he said he was Sanjay Gala I am like oh you are Sanjay Gala and his immediate reaction was oh you have mistaken me for someone else there is one more Sanjay Gala……………
All the Best……and I am sure we shall meet at Manis or Ram Ashraya
hi sanjay,parul adn kids,
wish you all good luck.Your selfless nature/help will be remembered.
Enjoy the mother india..
We will miss you all. Wish you all the best of luck. You all are going to be here 4 camping, holi, diwali party, etc……….right?
Best wishes and Good luck for future. We’ll miss u.
Thank you all for making all of(S1 family) us feel so special. We are greatly touched by the words. Even though we would all stay in each others hearts and memories, we can say the greatest loss that anybody would experience would be us. The bonds we share has made us all feel like an extended family. I can say for sure it is very rare, firstly to have such a big circle of friends, share common thoughts and interest and yet all live together with such harmony, love and lives filled with fun and joy. Truly, KV’s will hold a special place in our hearts and the void might take this lifetime to fill (especially for Sanjay and me).
As people share their encounter with us, we also look back at our journey beginning into bay area back to our motherland.
Sanjay’s journey into bay area began in 1993 after graduating and looking for a Job in so called Silicon Valley. We are greatly thankful to Tushar Shah’s family and Harakh Rambhia Family for extending me their support and giving him a home till he found his grounds in this new land. Our bachelor days ended on 31st December 1996 and we both tied the knot and marched towards our future in so called Silicon Kutch Valley. Bharat-Rupalee, Palvi, Sonia become our initial friends, we still have some great memories of our first exposure to Taboo and Pictionary with these old time KV friends. We are glad we still feel a connection even though lately with changing lives we haven’t been able to spend lot of time together.
The first KV couple we met was Bhavesh and Mita and soon the KV group started growing with the growing Dotcom boom, which brought in so many families into this small valley which eventually got its popular name – KUTCHVALLEY in later years. The first batch families include S2-Amita, Prashant-Dimple, Vijay-Kalpana, Jayesh-Bhavini, Nilesh-Vandana, Deep-Rashmi, Jaideep-Kalpa, Khona’s, Sagar-Pallavi, Parul-Mahendra, Smita-Rupesh and I might be missing be a few more. Inpromptu gatherings, potlucks, going movies, bowling, became almost an every weekend affair with late night teen-patti parties being one of the most popular pass-times. Soon the families started expanding with kids and then followed the second batch of KV families. With growing # of kids the weekend get-togethers started becoming difficult and KV’s started socializing more at kid’s birthday parties. But thanks to Prashant for extensive contribution to Kavita and efficient event planning that helped all of us in spending our precious times together. Be it GCA dandia, Disney on the Ice, Holi, or some times impromptu Bowling night etc and how can we forget our popular camping, one of the largest group camping and the smoothest planning anybody could ever imagine. Talking of camping and Diwali parties special thanks also goes to Jayesh-Bhavini and Dimple who have stayed put year after year in making these grand events a big success. KV’s can be growing old by age, but still their continued attendance in GCA dandia’s, holi and most importantly the energy packed dance finale during Diwali parties show the enthusiam of KVites and clearly indicates we all will always stay young at hearts.
Just like the parents the KV kids also share a special bond. Aayush and Aarshi both will greatly miss their young KV friends. They both had their best childhood with all parties, play dates, pathshala, dance practices, sleepovers and many other activities with Jash, Kairavi, Ruchi, Rashi, Devanshi, Shivani, Arya and all other KV Kids. Couple of days back Aarshi suddenly started crying in her sleep around 2-3am in the morning, and when we asked her what happened she said, she is missing her KV friends. She was in deep sleep as she replied to me and after few minutes went back to sleep. We can tell, they also feel a loss, but just that kids get over with things soon that adults and We are hoping they will soon made new friends here as well, helping find a new KV like home here for them.
While we are extremely sad to leave our “Kutch Valley” families our hearts are filled with gratitude to give back to our community, birth place and last but not the least our families. We are forunate to have such a remarkable KV Families group probably most unique not only in US but in the “world”. We hope some of you’ll hopefully decide to move back to mother-land and connect with roots soon and hopefully we can restart mini mumbai valley or tri-valley – Mumbai-Pune Kvalley.
Our sincere gratitude and thanks to all KV friends who stood by us in our toughest times and provided us guidance through out our tenure in Bay Area. Thank you all, for all the love and support everybody has provided us. We wish you all the very best in your future and look forward to staying in touch and carrying sweetest memories of our stay in Bay Area forever. No matter how busy we get in our life’s and day to day routine, you all will remain in our hearts forever. As few people rightfully mentioned our paths would meet again and we look forward to those moments.
Finally most importantly
“Michhami Dukkadam” to you all
Khamemi Savva Jive) and have earnestly sought forgiveness from all people (Savve Jiva Khamantu me).
From bottom of our heart, we request you to accept our apologies by forgiving us for hurting your feelings in any way by thoughts, words or actions knowingly or unknowingly.
Stay in touch
Sanjay, Parul, Aayush and Aarshi