Hi Patsy,
I'm not being unduly pessimistic, but we are in a kind of Catch 22 situation:
To have a nice cafe, we'd need to sustain it with enough people (potential buyers). And it cannot be just about anyone, because one doesn't want to make a membership-based organisation into a purely commercial endeavour like just about any public restaurant... After my friends' book release in Mumbai last year, I'd been to the Bandra Gymkhana, which is open to only members and their guests.
And to have potential members, we need to give them good enough reason to come there! That too, on a regular basis. Hence, Catch 22.
To my mind, what could really work is a two-fold approach.
That would be to (i) step up activity level -- and this can only happen with members taking the initiative to organise at least one event of their choice, in a field they see as important. (The committee is open to a wide range of themes and ideas, anything that would help build the wider community and the village, directly or otherwise.) and (ii) to push up the number of life members, so that even if people are far away, they do feel a sense of belonging and ownership of a historic and vital 90-year-old institution. Now is the time for all Saligaokars to come to the aid of the SI :-)
Unfortunately (;-)), the SI does have a bar license. This is used currently for parties, like it's 90th anniversary celebration on the last feast day of St Cajetan's (Aug 11, 2019) and if the Institute can revive its dance, I guess. I personally agree with your implied suggestion that the basic organisational structure of the SI should be kept the same, and if at all it is changed, it should be changed for the better. Not the worse.
In the past, we have known it primarily as a place for socialisation (dances, card games) and sports (indoors, some outdoors sports). It would be great if members could help the SI grow into the field of music, song, academics (we had a little of this by way of a few quizzes, even the odd debate, and I remember a just-a-minute BBC-style contest!), reading, career-guidance, occasional tech events, art, life-long learning initiatives, senior citizen-focussed events, and more. I wish we could have tapped more of the skills of people like Edwin Saldanha when you all returned in the 1960s. But we need to live in the present and look at the future.
These are my personal views, of course. But if any useful suggestions are made, and members launch the initiative, I don't see why all support can't be given in making those dreams come true. We have already received some very useful and concrete solutions. For now, we're just waiting for the weather to clear a little; it has been a particularly harsh monsoon, but things are already looking up.
Regards and best wishes, and do stay in touch, Words breed action, so every idea counts!
Rico/FN.