No, this is not the news
capsule that used to be aired almost 2 decades ago at 12 noon (?) every
Sunday…but about the happenings around 5 Birthdays, all in this week (well
almost). Capt Ravi, Shammi Janaki, Anu
Rajat, Sruti and My Mom-in-law…
Started last Friday at 10
Downing ushering in the first of the celebrations.hustling on some of the retro numbers viz., Voulez Vouz aha, Rasputin
and the Russian queen, I am crazy like a fool..what abt Daddy cool, All I want to
say is they don’t really care abt us….Post 1 am, the motley group of 6 trouped
into the Birthday Boy’s home for another round of cake cutting whilst the
inhouse DJ “Sruti Meher” brought up several of the deep throated Kishore Kumar
songs including “Aakhon mein humne aapke”,
“Roop tera aisa darpan mein na..” “Meet na mila re Manka…”, “Mere Dil
mein aaaj kya hain”.. ”Muksurata hua..”, “Hum bewafa hargiz na the”….and
ofcourse the “Rim Jhim gire saawan..”.
It was close to dawn when the group split.
Come Saturday, the MBA
group met up at what was like a mini-marriage kind of a DO except that it
wasn’t. Families and my Juniors whom I
was meeting after 18 years regaled on the lawns of the IT officers club. A beautiful evening when the skies opened up
just that little bit as if showering blessings on the girl of the
evening…Shammi. A very pleasant evening
meeting and greeting under a sprawling lawn in the middle of the city.
And then it was Anu’s
turn. Cake smearing at its best…the
pineapple one goes on the face and the hair..while the chocolaty one goes in
between the lips. A very fun filled
evening with the 3 singers singing for the lady of the day…it was Satti or
Sathish if you will, with “Saiyaan…Heere
Moti” at his elemental best. He sure was
giving Kailash Kher a run for his money.
And then Mazhar bhai with a slow Kishore number and yours truly with “Tu
Ganga ki mauj main jamuna…”A well spent evening indeed.
This Saturday was Yours
Truly spouse Sruti’s day. What started
off as a dull morning soon metamorphosed into a splendid day. Breakfast at the Minerva Coffee shop, the
Pesrattu, the butter masala dosa followed by the south Indian filter coffee
with parents and kids, followed by a quick lunch at BnC with Mint Julep and
Cosmopolitan to keep company. Then ran
literally at that for the noon show of an enjoyable fare “Bhaag Milka
Bhaag”. The running continued into the
evening to spend time with more family members and the hundreds of Cousins at
Koti. The best was to come towards the
late late evening. 10:30 pm landed at
the Murari’s place only to be greeted with more cakes, flowers and another
round of song & dance with lots of laughter….Sruti couldn’t really have
asked for more…as she confided that night or morning should I say 3 am was when
we split to catch up on some much needed sleep…
The last that of my Mom in
law today ended with a very pleasant Ghazal filled evening at the Mehfil
(Bassera). Our laundry list of requests
was more than catered to… “Chupke Chupke raat din”, “Hoton se choolo tum”,
“Chaand angadiya le raha hai”, “Mujhe tum nazar se” just to name a few were sung live by 2 gifted
singers one on the harmonium and the other on the Tabla.
Whew, that was some week
eh !! It does not end here, tomorrow is my Chennai Cousins birthday, followed
by another of my friends mid week, and then another cousin in the US of A and
another special coming up towards the end of this month…I will perhaps follow
up on this note with “The Month that Was” J.
Cheers and a Very Happy
Birthday to all of you dears…
