Stumbling upon a south Indian at a children’s birthday party is half as daunting as spotting a black sheep in a herd.
The string of mogras pinned to the hair, the red bindi glued to the forehead and the layers of make-up painted on the face are evidence enough to be convicted by the fashion police.
All put together with a pair of trousers and T-shirt, of course.
The occasion: Anu's seventh birthday.
The gift: An envelope containing Rs 51.
Drowning under the weight of lipstick and foundation, I head to Anu's house.
While the invite mentions that the party will begin at 6pm, I reach 10 minutes in advance only to be welcomed by empty chairs and balloons.
Punctuality is an heirloom presented to us by our Tamil-speaking forefathers.
Slowly and unsteadily, familiar faces fill the vacuum in the room, accompanied by their pesky mothers and annoying little siblings.
Eclipsed by awkward stares and prolonged silences for the first half hour, I decide to show off my dancing abilities to the gallery.
“I’m a Barbie girrll in my Barbie woo-oorld,” I lip sync, as Anu’s father balances his DJ act with ease.
The best part about dancing in a crowd is the high degree of self-confidence you develop.
You might resemble a Made In China doll, but tend to feel like Aqua’s Barbie Girl.
After attracting ‘ooohs’ and ‘sho shweets’ from my target audience, I move to the food corner.
The dining table at a birthday party is the hallmark of democracy: A paper plate, one samosa, oily potato wafers, a piece of cake (and a second piece only if you’re lucky).
While we are busy dissecting the life of Popeye, our sailor man, our mothers discuss more weighty issues such as our school bags and our class teacher’s personal life.
Having been a regular on the birthday party circuit, I decide to leave only after collecting the coveted return gift.
A pencil box and two sharpened pencils it is.
8 comments:
Once again, you've painted our childhood memories with utmost enthusiasm keeping the "entertainment" quotient intact. This is the result of an eidetic memory, eh? ;)
Good stuff, I'm hoping you'll write up something bigger next time around. Keep 'em comin'! :D
Birthday plates :D Guess what I still get that at my workplace ;)A paper plate filled with jalebis, wafers, bajiyas :D without the birthday cake though so was fun reading this :D
thats really simple and sweet!!! refreshed my memories of those days!! :) thnx reetika
love the ease with which you write..simply superb!! every thought,every line is so beautiful...just perfect :)
waiting to read more, Ms.Magic Fingers :)
Thank you very much.
The number of times I have danced on Barbie girl at some random party where i knew nobody because somebody came and told my parents 'Ask Radhika to prepare something for the party.' I was never even allowed to tell a joke as a punishment for passing the parcel. Sigh.
Very nice, Reetika. Definitely gets you nostalgic. You might hate the person whose birthday it is but you won't miss it because one knows where the best return gifts come from. :)
These small things meant so much to us. It encompassed our lives. :)
Radhika, thank you for empathising with me.
Hanoz, thank you for flattering me.
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