The party had started two weeks before the real event. Since I was recovering from my illness, most
of my time was spent at home. But thanks to the technology, I was not really
alone. WatsApp was my contact with outside world. Messages kept pouring all day
long from the different groups keeping me entertained throughout the day.
And so the planning for the
Christmas party began with my friends at ‘Elbow Room’ a group of friends who
have lived at 36th road, Bandra in the past and now are scattered to
different parts of the Mumbai and some out of Mumbai too.
First discussion is always about
food.
The menu was sorted out assigning different food and drinks to all
members. Two friends (one from Australia and other from Pune) promised their
presence spiritually while one friend (from Bangalore) decided to send a
Christmas cake. Over fifteen days, we discussed about the party, of what we
plan to eat, (we wanted only home-cooked food made by each member, Red was the
theme, so we asked everybody to dress in red, and we ordered Red-velvet cake)
Watsapp messages were mainly chatting and joking, the celebration growing its
momentum as the day approached.
On Christmas day, two friends
arrived at 11am to help me with party preparations such as packing of gifts and
sorting things for the party (balloon, party caps). The greatest charm of any
party is the gifts, no matter what value the gift may be; it’s the wrapped
surprise that brings joy. I had wrapped lots of gifts to give aways during
games
By one o’clock most of the
friends had arrived, (we were nine of us) after greeting and chit-chat, we sat
for lunch. We had wanted everything home-cooked, therefore everybody had spend the morning cooking (someone complained that she was late because chopping took too much time) We had potato and cauliflower
Parathas, Channa Masala, Dhoklas and
patras with spicy green chutney, mung salad, Bhoondi raita, berry juice, and
one sweet dish.
Passing the parcel was the
interesting game that had the most creative ‘punishments’, which was not
actually a punishment but a creatively told story on the topic given, with mime
and action. The winner was the one who expressively discouraged a friend from
coming to Mumbai.
This was followed with the game
of Bingo, no money exchanged for buying the ticket, but three surprise gifts
allotted for full house.
The next game was the hilarious
one that has us in splits. The person had to be blindfolded and was given a
basket of cotton balls on her lap. One hand held the plate above her head,
while the other hand held a spoon. In the fixed time of one minute, she had to
pick the cotton ball with a spoon and place it on the plate above her head. The
person with maximum number of cotton balls was the winner.
The final session was on karaoke
and we spend most of the evening singing.
By 6pm, goodbyes began, everybody
leaving in small groups, the last group left at around 9pm.
