The Pizzazzy

I am dead tired now and the weekend has already come to an end, no time left to relax a bit and carry on with the week ahead. But what a weekend. In a long long time we haven’t had such good time. Saturday as planned we had our pool side party. Amazingly, even with the lack of coordination it turned out really well. I really had my doubts when we made the plans. It’s difficult to plan potluck with guys especially because first of all they are not the ones to prepare the food and secondly it’s a game of chinese whisper, by the time the plan reaches their spouses it would become something else.

In the end it was difficult to remember who was turning out what? I only hoped that it doesn’t happen so.. that every couple ends up bringing the same dish. Anand had been pushing me to directly coordinate with the wives, but I avoided it and gave some benefit of doubt to the guys that they must have relayed the plan exactly. Relayed because after handing over the details they would simply have nothing to do with it :-). I guess the respective wives realized that their hubbies were being ambiguous with the specifications and called me in the end. Thanks to those few calls between the ladies our evening was really great.

By 7:30 we were at the pool side claiming our space, as we were scared that due to barbecue pit bookings we may not even get a corner table near the pool. So, the party began with simple vodka based cocktails with the delicious mouth watering starters. This time even the ladies were giving a tough competition to the guys. The drinking session went on till 1:00 in the morning and we left the pool side and came inside the house to finish the food that we had made. Let me give the credit to guys where its due, they had helped a lot in the preparations, infact one of our friend had prepared the sweet dish, kheer ( preparation of rice and milk) on his own and it turned out to be hottest item. It was given the full justice due to any well made dessert, served at the right temperature and was the only item that was licked off the bowls. All the rest of the food was neglected cos the guys were already in a state of slumber with overboozing.

I made it a point that everyone got a take away of the food, as I had some other friends coming over the next day and the menu was all together different for the next day. Moreover I didn’t want to break my first resolution of not wasting food for the coming year so soon. Finally it was 2:30 in the morning when we said good bye to the last couple.

What was good about the party was the ambience, first time we had a nice relaxed talk and drink session by the pool, although we do sometimes manage pool side tables at restaurants, but it’s not the same. And the water has such a calming effect on everyone even though you are outside the pool. Then the spouses were getting along so well. I got along well with my colleagues’ wives and Anand got along well with my colleagues. Now, thats worth mentioning because it seldom happens that Anand likes my friends or colleagues. He makes it pretty obvious by showing his dislike which is sometimes quite embarassing. And everything went on so smoothly and the wives were really great , they ensured that there was not much of cleaning up task the next day.

A perfect Saturday night and a perfect toast to friendship in this foreign land.