To be honest, I fulfilled many of my own dreams through Anirud. Especially, when I bought toys for him, it was in a way an indirect self-gratification of unfulfilled desire. Not that, I did not have any toys or otherwise, my parents did what best they could at that time, so absolutely no regrets about that as a matter of fact. It’s just that, I am still a child at heart when it comes to toys. I still love seeing and playing with them as it literally transports me to another world. And so, I used to buy lots of toys for him, especially cars and bikes of different sizes and shapes. I guess, he grew fond of cars and his mother decided that we need to order a birthday cake in the form of a car. Therefore, we ventured out to the best cake shops in Kuwait to order a special cake. We finally zeroed on a Ferrari car shaped cake (one I am and will always remain a Ferrari Fan) that was just awesome.
The next part of the agenda goes in choosing the venue for the event. Once the venue was finalized she had to coordinate with the hotel staff to decide on the menu from starters, main course to desserts. Invite the guests to join the party at the stipulated date and time. Then buy return gifts for children (different ones for varies age groups) and for the games. Finally she has to think through and plan for the games, separately for children, ladies, gents and couples, to keep it interesting and engaging for everyone. Truth be told, if not for her, it’s certainly not my cup of tea to organize not just a birthday party, any such event for that matter. It’s requires, tons of patience and perseverance to plan and culminate an occasion successfully. Therefore, I leave it to the lady boss of the house and I do the work of assisting her by driving her wherever she needs to go to complete her purchases, payment of bills and help her in packing and organizing stuff bought for the party.
Anirud’s birthday actually falls on 12th May. However, since it came on a Wednesday, we thought we shall have a party and celebrate with friends on Thursday evening as the weekend commences for us then. We arranged for the birthday in a hotel, called Avanti Palace (in our Salmiya locality itself) and invited our 4SA friends in Kuwait. My MIL (Vidya’s Mom) was there with us in Kuwait at that time. Invitation card was designed by her Mama from Mumbai.
I came back from office at 4 PM, Vidya and I went straight to the Hotel to fix the balloons and other decorative items which we bought for the occasion. Then we came back home, got into our party outfits and then went to the Hotel. Meanwhile I wrote a few colorful words which we printed at a net café.
After dropping them, I left to bring the cake. Wow, you got to see the picture, this was one amazing cake, truly money’s worth, slightly expensive though.
So it was an evening filled with fun, music, games, entertainment and food which remains topmost in our agenda. It’s the satisfied souls that can always wish you well, when their stomachs says yes, I loved it.
Dressing up Anirud in the best of the fashion becomes a top priority affair for his Mom. Fashionista that she is, she always goes to extreme lengths to make him be the best at that point in time. From the cap, to Tee, Shirt, Jean and Shoe, everything has to be colour coordinated and should also suit him perfectly on all aspects.
The party was scheduled to start by 7.30 PM. However, one by one the party guests started coming in from 7.45 PM. We started the games from 8.30 PM onwards.
The first one was the musical arms game, similar to the musical chair. Instead of chairs, men and women replaced with their hands on their waist. Children had to run around them and when the music stopped hold the arm of the man or woman. Whoever is not able to find a free arm, is out of the game. With the children, we reduce the no of men and women so that there is one person finally for 2 children. It is the option of the individual to place the arm on either of the sides when the music is stopped and whoever is able to hold the arm is declared as the winner. The finalists were Pratyusha and Ruthwik and Ruthwik won the game.
The second game was the kangaroo jump, wherein the children have to hold the tennis ball by their knees and start jumping and have to go the marked distance. Whoever is able to cross over and reach the destination fastest is declared as the winner. Here again the finalists were Pratyusha and Ruthwik and in the kids section we had Niranjana. Pratyusha won the game and Niranjana took the consolation prize in the child’s category.
The third game was pin the donkey’s tail. Vidya had forwarded the picture of a donkey without a tail and separately the donkey’s tail. Blindfolded whoever sticks the tail closest or nearest to the x marked place in the donkey is declared as the winner. Ruthwik was the winner of this game.
Next we started off with the games for adults.
First we had the game for ladies, where they had to light maximum no. of candles with one match stick. Barathi was able to light 13 candles with one match stick and was declared as the winner of this game.
More than the game, I have to tell you the tale of trying to search for a wooden plank and finally I chose the option of placing the candles in a ceramic tray which we bought for a different purpose. It was not sticking properly as the surface was smooth and it was one hell of a task with Rama, Mami and others helping to place the candles even as it was falling down. Finally we went ahead and everyone loved the game. Even the children wanted to play this game.
The next adult’s game was for gents and they had to move dry peas from one tray to another with the help of a straw held by their mouth. Whoever is able to move the maximum no of peas within 30 seconds is the winner. Venky was able to move 22 peas on 30 seconds and was declared as the winner.
And finally we had a couple’s game where the ladies have to stick maximum no of bindi’s in their husband’s face in 30 seconds. It was one helluva fun and the winner was Venky Sasi. These people are really a well-trained lot including their kid. A truly enterprising family indeed not that the others were not involved, but these sure know a thing or two about games.
By the time the games were over it was almost 10 PM and it was time to blow the candles, sing happy birthday song and then cut the cake. Everyone sure was amazed to see the Ferrari Cake and just loved the sight of it. I blew the candle on behalf of Anirud and then Vidya cut the cake. As usual our boy did not eat it and I had to eat on behalf of him.
Ramakumar opened the party popper and the colorful stuff which blew around was simply excellent.
Then it was time to break for dinner. And the food indeed was good.
Typically our get togethers and parties at Kuwait start in the evening by 7.30 to 8.00 PM and will go on until midnight with dinner break in between. It was a gala fun filled event with everyone from kids, parents to elders participating and having fun as a family in games and celebrations. This is one of the most vociferous and audacious group that you can ever see. They are like family, to be honest, and are admirable friends. That was the best part of being in Kuwait. These kind of social gatherings and celebrations are difficult to organize and bring everyone together (the latter is the main issue), in India. That way, with Anirud growing up in Kuwait and us having outstanding set of friends in 4SA group, we really had some memorable and nostalgic days to last a lifetime.
Beautiful Life 