Sangeet -2

Sangeet -1. Sirf pikchur hi kaafi hai...courtesy Rbit da

Santa in a dhuti

25.12.09
Arguably the finest Christmas i ever had. And it all began with Indro da making his way in the morning, and Arpan-Gudduda-Mumudi and my family shoving food down my throat.
Yeah with a beginning that had a beheaded Rui, whose jawsize cometed with mine, staring at me, could it get any better.
Topshey, doi maach, maacher mathaa etc and enthusiastic mashimas sniggering and ulu-ing egged me on to attack. (ulu is the sound that relatives make once the bride and groom have said 'ilu' - Subhash Ghai too has a Bong connection. Anjan Dutta shud be proud)
But then i figured looking at the spread - am I being wel fed because before the proverbial chop arrives - i should feel satiated enough to not let the nervous lines show on my face?
Well there should have been mutton. And by Bong standards it was still a vegetarian meal.
Meanwhile i did enough touching toes in one day than i had done when i used to attend school cricket practise sessions.
And then came the evening we were all waiting for.
Colour co-ordinated bride and groom and clock watching in laws waited on, as the party wallahs trooped in. Umpteen smiles and nods at people, whose names i don't rememeber anymore( well most of them), the phones started to buzz.
"Do we take the right or the left?"
"Is it the second island after City Centre or the one after...?"
"is your father in law unciorking his single malt collection?"
And all thsi while i was being dragged at various directions to meet SoandSo when all my eyes wanted was some SOS from the piping hot fish fingers.
Superb fish fingers again. Bhetki fangs that attacked directly into your salivatory glands with just their aroma before biting into your teeth and juicing down to the wintry stomach.
And then, the Angels - Riya, Angie and Indrani started their moves from behidn the red curtain. A fitting backdrop for the city and perhaps the last time the red curtain was breached by apsaras who performed.
Ably voiced by a hulusthoool snarling MC - SharmaG, the dancers had enough charm in them that could seduce everyone this side of the red curtain including Biman Bose and mao.
And just as you were about to say 'WOW' the Mumbai phatakas - Romi, Ruchika (of Mahim causeway fame), SharmaG and SharmaP and lady Simi (not Simi the gandalf but Simi the dancer) - began their "WAKAO"
MIthun, Jeetu, Bappi came across in avatars that would make even Jeetuji pale compared to his shoe and Parbhuji would have exclaimed "Supaaaarb, sexxxxy, mindblowing, super-duper-sarvotyaam" and Bapida would have had tears roll down his cheeks (an impossibilty,because of the distance to be covered).
"naino mein sapna"...is what dreams began with and rounded off by dance Dance's immortal poetry, that underlined and foretold what was to happen in theevening thereafter.
Move over Nostradamus , come forth B Subhash.
Everybody did dance with Pa Pa Pa and everybody did dance with Ma Ma.
Never has bengal been so unanimous in its affirmation with any party slogan.
Chicago residents, Londoners, Delhiites, Mumbaiites, and other villagers last night, decided to, before the red dupatta usher in Santa in a dhuti with its own brand of Pop-o-sanskriti.
And if you thought that was the end..hehehe..you were wrong.
A sports journalist pal tippled over, and hopefully will be back in a day to coverdrive.
Inquisitive and lecherous eyes with "what's her number" in their eyes, could only muster a "ohh i see..she's ratoola's friend?" and a smile
And the Kolkata pulao and chicken seemed to have bowled over the diners.
And then, the backpack and Surya's guitar came out.
And a medley of gautamChatterjee, R D Burman ensued, peppered by an enthusiastic aunty who sombred the evening with her tagore overture, soon to be overshadowed by roving-eye rhiju's Sanu impersonations over 'angna mein baba'.
Come 30th the reception will be witnes to the real Baba. baba Ronydev as he makes his cool trip this side of the equator. But that will be another post.
As Ratoola did a Helen, and i stayed static as jalal Agha's movie career, mom-in-law became the grandfather clock.
The decibel, acibel and time tabil levels had been breached.
My voice was gone. And somewhere on the beautifully done up garden, i could see Santa sneak out in a red dhoti...or maybe the 3 magi woudl be wondering whether their choice of gifts for the Lord was good enough 2009 years ago...
I wouldn't kow. But Magi or noMagi, this Christmas has been my Merriest ever.
And it has just started.
let me warn you.

Wedding preparations

This morning, I was rudely awakened early (a little hungover from the excess of partying last night) by a loud commotion downstairs. The pandal makers, the lightmen and the videgraphers and an odd carpenter had all arrived at thesame time. The Kundu family scurried around directing this, supervising that, much argument, disagreement, heated debates ensuing. The videographers wanted a pre-wedding shot of the family, sipping tea in the lawn - the calm before the storm so to speak. While dad did the last minute invitations over the phone, mom ran after the pandal makers scolding them whenever they tripped over one of her plants in the garden, beseeching them to stay a little longer during lunch time to move a few things here and there, swinging from being angry to being persuasive , like a pendulum. Brother was sent off to the market to buy the last minute tid bits and took close to two/three hours ambling in City Center - glad to get away from the chaos, confusion and commotion. The bride to be was delegated the responsibility of folding the mountain of clothes that had piled up and making the beds - good training huh? Things are finally getting back to normal in the late afternoon, after a thousand phonecalls, one thousand and one trips to the bank and to the market, and innumerable family huddles and strategizing. Its three thirty in the afternoon - we havent had lunch as yet. A soulful sitar, guitar fusion is playing its own tune downstairs. Mr. Sen called me thrice to say he is waiting at City Center with a friend to snaek a meeting before the formal do tomorrow. I am looking at the watch...ticking. Lunch is yet to be served....

Of beautiful women

The entire day was spent being "beautified" - read held hostage by the beauty parlor for a good four hours as they went about their regime of cleansing, sprucing, fluffing, massaging, filing, shearing, sculpting. And the first facial of my life. Someone asked me - so how was it? I replied that I felt tired, from lying around and being pampered too much! Definitely not used to it. But as the bride to be- one has to go through such customs. Soumik quipped whether they had managed to give me a brand new skin! I do hear that he too had to make the customary visit to the barber's shop to be suitably "groom-ed". hehehe!

Girls just want to have fun

Last night I was crowned, toasted and given a chocolate cake facial by some of the most beautiful women in and out of town at a fabulous hen party that had mother-hen donning a santa hat and jiving to "hips dont lie". Friends I had made over the years living in far corners of the globe were in town to throw me a night filled with much laughter, dancing, drinking and nostalgia. Ria and Piu, the two sisters and the official hostesses greeted me at the door looking like elves. Ria is in Kolkata for a year, having flown down from London, to work with Save the Children in Kolkata. Piu is down from Spain, along with her friend Eva. I have known them since I was seven years old (Ria hadnt been born then!!!) and Piu is my original partner in crime in the tiny island of Brunei, terrorising the other Indian kids. We fondly remembered those days when she and I would spend hours at end at each others house devising plots to create some "trouble", in our jammies. Marilyn, my "American mom" - who is also here for the wedding surprised me with her jhatak matak moves and her tolerance for the excellent capirinhas that Piu had concocted for the evening. The evening soon saw us breaking out into maddening Govinda ishtyle dance moves - change a light bulb, tap that cigarette, shake that hip, fly that kite, tap the biri....cues for the choreographed dance around the table as a bunch of girls, dressed to kill , giggled and laughed and shimmied all over the floor. Simi , my buddy from school arrived almost straight from the airport in a dare bare ensemble and led the dancers with her wild (read raunchy) moves. Riya my friend since my college days in Kolkata did Bollywood proud with all sorts of gyrations and thrusts possible by the human body. Angie, another partner in crime from our 6 months of living and working togerther in Bombay got down and dirty on the dance floor too as we recalled of moments grooving at the Hawaiian Shack and being hauled up by the HR department for our "wild parties" in the company apartment! Snigdha another dear friend from my college days let her hair down too to shake a leg with the motley assortment of gal pals. The final entrant was mother -hen at twelve in the night , dressed in a hat and carrying a box of chocolates. She was immediately swept onto the dance floor as she and Marilyn gave the younger girls a complex with their moves. Th night came to an end with much cake smearing. The cake aptly said:" Goodbye Miss - Welcome Mrs. Sen" ...hehehe! What a night! (Hopefully being Mrs Sen doesnt change much of the "girls just want to have fun"- the theme song for the night). Wistful? Just a tad!

...it's almost here

Mithu had her bachelorette yesterday. It was rocking I'm told and my shashuri too let her hair down. Wonder if there are any blackmail-able pictures clicked...
Raveena dropped in town, and then whizzed off, before complaining about the terrible road trip to Ranaghat from airport which took double the time, than it should have......
mamunidi is down in the city. Pun intended. And has been battling virus and schedule and buy me a gift...
Meanwhile at home, the ball begins to roll.
A blue drape atop bamboo has started adorning the courtyard. The pandal for the biye and my dad gleefully puts on Bismillah in 5.1. malkauns is a sad raag, so is Gujri Todi..but then again...
With melodies such as these used to sound off celebrations, i'm actually looking forward to jeetu-Mithun-Bapi medley promised for tomorrow's sangeet and some surprises.
Meanwhile my mom and her sis - the granny of my niece, indulged in some "what if"s and "I'm telling you" and "listen to me"s till wee hours of the night.
Didn't really think that Saans-bahu sagas could be this interesting that it'd force me to eavesdrop.
The saga i reckon will have a reprise soon enough.
The moot point of discussion was - that no matter that my cousin has braved -35 temps at Siachen and shot and killed infiltrators, when it comes to homeland security, he is very much someone who is led by the high command. So to compensate having gone out with groom to watch Avatar, he decided to make amends. Took out ailing daughter and grumpy wife to Paa.
And I don't know if it was the impact of the film or the force fed popcorn ('shower down affection' taken a bit 2 seriously) that resulted in the eventual avalanche of electrol, lomotil, and puffed rice...and roshogolla too!

Mithu was probably on her 6th drink at her bachelorette by then.
Meanwhile dadu and dhruti's elaborate train plans have been foiled. They were wait-listed and then derailed. So will eventually fly in to be amidst the party that I'm sure will go past the mom-in-law asserted deadline.
And I am still looking out for ways to escape the din at home. Seems unlikely. As post noon today Sehwag promises to give dada gurudakshina at the garden of Eden.
One last tryst with the remote and a swig before the phuchka wallah before tomorrow kicks off in my stomach.
And I'm being told I have lost weight. Ha!
parents i tell you!