The great thing about meeting old friends is this happy-crazy ability to pick up, even years later, right where one left off. What with one thing, the other, and then a few more; we hadn’t been able to have a Kittens Club meet for quite a few months. It was with some trepidation, that we floated the long overdue invite. I’m sure there must’ve been quite a few rumblings and grumbling, internally, but the opportunity to get together was too inviting to nurture rancour for long. As the list of attendees swelled, the executive committee breathed a sigh of relief.
The EC swung into action. Old hands, Madhu, Ritu, Shalini and Sweety did their thing, as did the program host, Anita. The venue management was left to me. Horrors of Horrors! A “Formality” visit to Central Park revealed a slush-ridden, gobar-strewn mess! The gardeners had chosen Friday to water and manure the lawn, and the event was on Sunday afternoon! After much hair-pulling, wailing and chest-beating, by yours truly, President Bhatt managed to calm me down and promised to have the park drained and swept in time for the event. Fortunately, 2 sunny afternoons followed, and by Sunday morning, the park was as good as new.
But the hair-pulling bit wasn’t quite done with yet. With Winter Solstice (Anayaant) just around the corner, and days getting shorter and shorter, there was anxious monitoring of daylight hours and Sunny-side-Up of the Park. Just a day before, we decided to prepone the event to 2.30 – a good decision as it turned out. But there were still a few hairs left on Ye Olde Scalpo. A casual visit to the park revealed an empty venue. No chairs, no tables no décor. Frantic calls to the caterer received no response, and I faced the prospect of one big fiasco as far as my event management went. At 1.50 pm, the caterer finally returned my call and promised to be there in ten. No such thing. As the minutes ticked away, and the executive members and early birds trooped in, there was no caterer in sight. God Bless my girls, as they kept the invitees, busy with attendance, name tags, Tambola ticket sales and that spicy bit of gossip that added zest to the warm winter Sun.
We were to have the “Punctuality Draw” at 2.45, and that’s when the van drew up, into the park, much to my relief. To all the men who complain about their spouse’s fussiness; I say a Big Fat NOOO. It was darling to see the girls uncomplainingly grab their seats and drag them into a semi-circle for the program. No fuss. No bother. No Choon-Chaan. Gals just wanna have funnn.
And fun, we had. The highlight of the games was “Padhos Pehcaano”. The main purpose of the Club is to engender camaraderie and neighbourly feelings among residents. So there was a quiz for information about the Sector and its inhabitants. While some of us struggled to specify the gates and parks of the Sector, others rattled off every possible information; including Fire, Ambulance Women’s helpline numbers with ease. The cake (and Bumper Prize) was taken by Ira Sharma, an Army wife (what else!) as she smoothly rattled off the names and addresses of each of her neighbours. She probably knew the names and ages of their kids too!
Then followed a Game of “tol-mol ke Bol”. A truly grahini game, in which ladies guessed the prices of small domestic products like Boroline, Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, Parachute Coconut oil and sundry other necessaries dear to the housewife’s heart. Anita Bhalwar had to be dragged away from her new Shopkeeper’s Avatar, by Sweety and Madhu, who needed to start their Tambola.
Tambola was followed by a fascinating talk on colour therapy by Sweety Gulati. Most of us had never even heard about this therapy. But, after she explained the rationale behind it, and some of its benefits, many of us immediately went onto her site to check it out. One more precious drop in the vast untapped sea of knowledge!
