NEW-YEAR EVE IN SRISHTI
Yes, it is always
a pleasure to be back home and join the mainstream. And we did it
just in time for the Sports Day as well as the New Year eve
celebrations. Before I continue, let me wish all my Srishti-ites and
their families a very very happy and prosperous 2014. May the year
address all their concerns - their children's 10th, 12th
examinations, admission worries, career prospects of bread-winners,
and health issues (if any). I know the list is a Hanuman tail.
It was nice to see
several new energetic, exuberant and smiling faces, as we missed a
few old friends. Srinivasanji was not around making his customary
slow and calculated round with a plate in hand. Harihara Sarma, who
I think still holds record for having served the maximum number of
sub- committees in Srishti, is recuperating at his son's place. The
never-get-old Bhashyams could not be present, excusably. On
Christmas, their daughter gifted them with a charming granddaughter.
My friend, whose identity I shall protect, shuttled between his
apartment and the venue, just not to miss the climax of a Mohanlal
film in TV.
Food stalls were
aplenty - the chief attraction on such occasions. What with chats,
pani puri (gol gappa as we call it in Delhi), sabudana kichdi, and a
host of mouth-watering items, there were gajar-halwa, ice cream as
dessert, Coke and other beverages to wash them down with, or hot
coffee, tea, milk to keep us warm on an somewhat chilly, windy
night.
"Old order
changeth yielding place to new," wrote a poet in my XI class
English text. Yes, only change is constant. We find a new team at the
helm for Sports Day and the New Year Eve. Sunil, Sujatha, and their
friends deserve full compliments for doing an excellent job. If only
the public address system had been a little more cooperative, they
would have walked away with a centum for the show. But let that not
rob the pleasurable evening that we all had.
The events started
off with an invocation by Surekha. The hullabaloo at the Food Court
managed to drown the audibility, but not what she prayed for. The
children's torch dance, with lights around switched off, seemed an
innovation - some torches glittering more, some less, and some
refusing to take off. But children are always a fun to watch. Then
prizes were distributed for those who made the grade on the Sports
Day - some in bits and others in bulk.
Housie' (Tambola?)
followed next. With an aggressive marketing of retail and wholesale
booking of tickets, the counter was closed in no time. The one and
only Sanjay took charge and did it with professional competence. (I
suspect if he did a part time job in any club in his college days.
Anyway.) One couple (don't ask me who) bagged three prizes in the
event, only to hear healthy catcalls from the audience, 'lottery'.
In the Antakshari
programme, Sujatha and her daughter managed to keep the interest of
the audience alive at 11 in the evening when people were just about
to slip. By draw of lots the teams were divided into East, West,
South and North. The formidable Sudha-Srikant duo and Bharti (the
dark horse) on East, the unassuming but treasure-house Surekha in the
West, the spontaneous Gita (Ashok) in the South, and the poor Aunty
and a few others in North, took up positions. As it happens always,
fortune favoured the other sides. They had to guess songs from
Pakeeza and other popular films, whereas it fell upon North to guess
an obscure Helicopter song by Dharmendra and Hema Malini. Apparently
we couldn't; in fact no team could, and Sujatha had to reveal it.
"Yeh bhi koi gana hai?" we heard someone from North
muttering (not me). Anyway, it was a landslide victory for the East,
followed by West. The South and North scored equally, thus North
narrowly escaping a fourth position.
An ensemble of
Bollywood songs dance-number by young mothers stole the evening,
however. Starting with the song from Navrang, "Aadha hai
Chandrama," they danced merrily to half a dozen tunes with
aplomb. Considering that many are career women, others tending their
children with very little time for rehearsal, the applause for them
lasted a little longer. For me personally, I felt a bit nostalgic. as
a young bachelor I saw V. Shantaram's 'Navrang', with music by C.
Ramchandra, on the first day, late night show, at Odeon (in Delhi)
on a wintry night, and had to hire a taxi to get back home.
A wonderful New
Year eve it was, for those who missed it.
05 January 2014
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