Four Parties

Sindha and I had received party invites from four people, spread out over the past three weeks. The first was a birthday party of the son of a friend, the second was a dinner invite from a newly married couple settling down in Bangalore, the third the first wedding anniversary of another friend and the last the house-warming ceremony of our neighbour.

The birthday party was a typical Mallu male affair. Wives and kids in the ground floor, sitting on chairs around the dinner table and talking about cookery, knitting and other delightful things women do. The husbands were on the terrace downing Old Monk, Kingfisher and McDowells. The wives waited patiently, dutifully, obediently till late in the night for their husbands to descend. The husbands drank, went down for dinner and cracked jokes which were much appreciated by all. The menu included chicken curry, kerala parotta and veg fried rice. There was merriment all around. Oh, one of the wives had a spot of bother with asthma, but her husband was busy with his third shot of rum and so she had to wait till he was done. Strangely enough, yours truly didnt drink that night.

The second party had Sindha and me seated in the living room along with 4 to 5 other couples. We spoke about our jobs, our ex-companies, our common friends and classmates from college. My friend's in-laws hovered in the background, making sure we had everything we wanted. Dinner was masala dosai, idli and pongal. Sindha and I got home by 1030, feeling much better about life in Bangalore.

The third party - my friend's first wedding anniversary - was on the terrace of his house. There was a caterer who catered hariyali chicken, chicken tikka, veg kababs, veg biriyani, chicken curry and veg kadai. Smirnoff, Teachers, Bacardi and Kingfisher were available in plenty. There were couples in ethnic Indian wear (kurta pyjama, salwar et al), western wear (midriff revealing tees, figure hugging tops, etc) and there were couples like Sindha and I who wore their sole set of decently ironed clothes. Music was by The Doors, Eagles, Nirvana and Clapton. Champagne flowed after the cake was cut. We got a small portion of champagne, but not the cake.

The last party was held on the terrace of the apartment next to ours. The invite said 1230pm, so we reached there at 1240 to be fashionably late. Sadly, we hadnt accounted for Bangalore time. The hosts reached a few minutes after us, the rest of the invitees reached on time at 1:30. The buffet had pulao, puri, kurma, curd rice and halwa, catered by M/s Kanthi Sweets, Thippasandra. Returned home to a good afternoon's sleep.

current book: The Tintin Companion by Michael Farr