Grabbing YoYo (Year On Year Opportunities)
Many events/occasions repeat at regular cycle time viz. Oscars, Nobel Prizes...(annual), Olympics, W-Cups...(once-every-4-yrs), Kumbh Mela...(once-every-12-yrs).
Inspired by these global events, i have got an annual calendar set for myself. These are Navratri, Paryushan (Jain festival), my-village-trip and Tanmay's Bday. I call them YoYos (Year On Year Opportunities) bcoz the remarkable thing abt them is that i meet and catch up with different sets of Friends and Familiies (F&Fs) at these occasions, exactly once every year only.
Recently i attended Tanmay's bday (my colleague - Sumit's son who jus turned two)... the proud father had thrown a big party when Tannu was two days old then, and i was invited... i had struck right chords with his family with a befitting gift... a cute baby poster reading "Beware Baby Zone"... (thnx for remembering this everytime i appear once a year)
I normally dont remember dates unless 'Birthday Alarm' alerts me. Jus a evening before Tannu's bday...Sumit called me to "be there"!! I turned up right on time (jus 2 hrs early if i go by others' right time) !!! What i am about to describe here is something everyone experiences before and after a party...and i hope to read your comments if u differ or have any other interesting episodes for the "PARTY"....
You become conscious of your dressing sense as soon as u come out of the shower on the D-day !! What do i wear? Will i bump into someone lovely? Would she judge me by my dress... so u try to shortlist yr wardrobe based on certain assumptions and then u further curtail them based on creases on them !! Voila after some 2-3 dress rehearsals...u are out dressed as a Prince. (chigs tip - parties are mostly at late eve's or nights... so wear sth which looks bright in neon lights... dont worry abt yr pimples nor prick them... they normally subside during night). Next step in succession is to wear yr fav Deo/Perfume and a pair of polished party shoes !!!
The next big thing - choosing a GIFT with various contrainsts like the budget, the age, the dutch gift, the not-so-common gift etc... might take as little as 1 hr to wrap this up !! This makes u rush to yr venue... things can get worst if you have to locate a fully-lighted-venue on a map !! But a cell call to the host, for directions settles yr heartbeats !! You might have to park your car a few blocks away if u r not an early bird... :)
I think this post is getting longer...let me dive into the party now.
You enter the party-zone but then re-enter again with the gift a few mins later. You meet the hustle-bustle host trying to fix the last balloon on the fan and reconfirming that the caterer is welcoming every guest with a glass of cola and chips (fatty i say) !! You scan your eyes around to track those "lovely" species... but mind you, u cant get lucky on family functions/events !! So step-down your expectations and behave. Slowly as ppl trickle in, you meet same set of ppl with whom you had dined a year back. The only difference you spot is that some have left your 'being-single' community and come with 'only-if-i-could-get-a-wife-like-his', some have added a few kgs here and there, some have come with a 2nd kid in their arms and some come with their family-planning progress!!
The only thing which comes out of you when u meet annual old-chums are "what a long time!!", "whatz up?", "where are you working these days?", "you never mail (as if i do)", "whats the attrition rate there?", "any onsite opportunities?", "what would be hikes like this year?"... and if u venture into making friends with new ppl around, you only have few more questions like "which company? IBM/ORACLE/KPMG...", "what platform/profile/project are you working on"... before he/she excuses himself/herself to more interesting being arnd... the only Q which comes to your mind when getting introduced to her wife is "how are you"... end of discussion... ppl normally talk brief and to the point when they are with girls arnd.
You must be wondering why do u need to know other ppl arnd... jus hang on with your own friends... but the fact is that some of these parties are motleies of friends.... your branches end at second level ie the host and you.... and you hardly know anyone beyond an occasional "hi" earlier!!
Okie so the party goes on...the music...the serving and spilling of oil-rich food, the photographs, the occasional bumping-into-the-same-person with the sam-set-of-questions, the generous you look lovely in this dress/shirt, where did you get that sleek mobile from, did you book your new flat/plot?, which school does your prince (u obvisiously dont know his name) go to? There are some ppl you try to avoid eye contact becuase either you would have embarrased them or bumped into them quite often.
The only person you know (the host) might not be available as he is busy keeping everyone feel at home...the party comes to an abrupt end as and when ppl finish their dinner and find means to tell the host why they should be rushing back home now !! I think the host too is waiting for you to leave...so that he can open all the gifts at peace and then take a well-deserved rest !! You part with ppl promising to keep in touch by either mailing or calling... you also promise to meet up soon for the next movie or the next excusion etc... but you normally wait for one more year to banter and bring-back the same old memories with the same set of friends...the only difference would be (as i mentioned before...) not-single-anymore, have-2-cute-kids-now kind of updates !!!
There is one more YoYo which i would like to describe at length ie our annual "Appraisal" where you get to meet your host-n-ghost exactly once a year to discuss the same old....
Would you be interested to talk abt the "Appraisal YoYo"?
Many events/occasions repeat at regular cycle time viz. Oscars, Nobel Prizes...(annual), Olympics, W-Cups...(once-every-4-yrs), Kumbh Mela...(once-every-12-yrs).
Inspired by these global events, i have got an annual calendar set for myself. These are Navratri, Paryushan (Jain festival), my-village-trip and Tanmay's Bday. I call them YoYos (Year On Year Opportunities) bcoz the remarkable thing abt them is that i meet and catch up with different sets of Friends and Familiies (F&Fs) at these occasions, exactly once every year only.
Recently i attended Tanmay's bday (my colleague - Sumit's son who jus turned two)... the proud father had thrown a big party when Tannu was two days old then, and i was invited... i had struck right chords with his family with a befitting gift... a cute baby poster reading "Beware Baby Zone"... (thnx for remembering this everytime i appear once a year)
I normally dont remember dates unless 'Birthday Alarm' alerts me. Jus a evening before Tannu's bday...Sumit called me to "be there"!! I turned up right on time (jus 2 hrs early if i go by others' right time) !!! What i am about to describe here is something everyone experiences before and after a party...and i hope to read your comments if u differ or have any other interesting episodes for the "PARTY"....
You become conscious of your dressing sense as soon as u come out of the shower on the D-day !! What do i wear? Will i bump into someone lovely? Would she judge me by my dress... so u try to shortlist yr wardrobe based on certain assumptions and then u further curtail them based on creases on them !! Voila after some 2-3 dress rehearsals...u are out dressed as a Prince. (chigs tip - parties are mostly at late eve's or nights... so wear sth which looks bright in neon lights... dont worry abt yr pimples nor prick them... they normally subside during night). Next step in succession is to wear yr fav Deo/Perfume and a pair of polished party shoes !!!
The next big thing - choosing a GIFT with various contrainsts like the budget, the age, the dutch gift, the not-so-common gift etc... might take as little as 1 hr to wrap this up !! This makes u rush to yr venue... things can get worst if you have to locate a fully-lighted-venue on a map !! But a cell call to the host, for directions settles yr heartbeats !! You might have to park your car a few blocks away if u r not an early bird... :)
I think this post is getting longer...let me dive into the party now.
You enter the party-zone but then re-enter again with the gift a few mins later. You meet the hustle-bustle host trying to fix the last balloon on the fan and reconfirming that the caterer is welcoming every guest with a glass of cola and chips (fatty i say) !! You scan your eyes around to track those "lovely" species... but mind you, u cant get lucky on family functions/events !! So step-down your expectations and behave. Slowly as ppl trickle in, you meet same set of ppl with whom you had dined a year back. The only difference you spot is that some have left your 'being-single' community and come with 'only-if-i-could-get-a-wife-like-his', some have added a few kgs here and there, some have come with a 2nd kid in their arms and some come with their family-planning progress!!
The only thing which comes out of you when u meet annual old-chums are "what a long time!!", "whatz up?", "where are you working these days?", "you never mail (as if i do)", "whats the attrition rate there?", "any onsite opportunities?", "what would be hikes like this year?"... and if u venture into making friends with new ppl around, you only have few more questions like "which company? IBM/ORACLE/KPMG...", "what platform/profile/project are you working on"... before he/she excuses himself/herself to more interesting being arnd... the only Q which comes to your mind when getting introduced to her wife is "how are you"... end of discussion... ppl normally talk brief and to the point when they are with girls arnd.
You must be wondering why do u need to know other ppl arnd... jus hang on with your own friends... but the fact is that some of these parties are motleies of friends.... your branches end at second level ie the host and you.... and you hardly know anyone beyond an occasional "hi" earlier!!
Okie so the party goes on...the music...the serving and spilling of oil-rich food, the photographs, the occasional bumping-into-the-same-person with the sam-set-of-questions, the generous you look lovely in this dress/shirt, where did you get that sleek mobile from, did you book your new flat/plot?, which school does your prince (u obvisiously dont know his name) go to? There are some ppl you try to avoid eye contact becuase either you would have embarrased them or bumped into them quite often.
The only person you know (the host) might not be available as he is busy keeping everyone feel at home...the party comes to an abrupt end as and when ppl finish their dinner and find means to tell the host why they should be rushing back home now !! I think the host too is waiting for you to leave...so that he can open all the gifts at peace and then take a well-deserved rest !! You part with ppl promising to keep in touch by either mailing or calling... you also promise to meet up soon for the next movie or the next excusion etc... but you normally wait for one more year to banter and bring-back the same old memories with the same set of friends...the only difference would be (as i mentioned before...) not-single-anymore, have-2-cute-kids-now kind of updates !!!
There is one more YoYo which i would like to describe at length ie our annual "Appraisal" where you get to meet your host-n-ghost exactly once a year to discuss the same old....
Would you be interested to talk abt the "Appraisal YoYo"?
posted by Chigs at 10:11 PM
2 Comments:
Good post with a good pinch of humour in it :).
When are you going to cacsh this YoYo.
Chigs,
Enjoyed this blog and would agree with 70% of the comments made..
But for another 30% disagreement-host has always invited you more times than only on b'day to make u feel more comfortable at home :-)
Have taken a printout to show it to tanmay once he can understand these..
Keep writing...
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