I am always ready for shopping for me or for anyone. Pramila and I set out with energy and ordered the snacks (tikki-chhole at Prashant, Ice creams at 'Dairy Don', Cake at Tip Top), and bought gifts for the winners and token gifts for the ladies at the 99 dollar shop in Eternity Mall (I purchased a few things for meself too!).
Friday, 7th March 2008:
Pramila had come up with the idea of 'Housie' or 'Tambola' and she had the necessary things for the game too! It was as always a hit. We had four prizes - first, second and third row, and full housie.
'Slimy ball race' - Well, a slimy ball is made from those little balls that you soak in water and they grow into slippery round slimy balls. The idea was that everybody had to race their slime ball from one end of the table to another with a straw by blowing enough air to move it, and at the same time they had to be careful not let the ball go beyond the edge of the table - it turned to be good fun and the best time was 9seconds by Bina.
We also had a balloon blowing contest and the winner - Neela - managed four in a minute. I was still struggling to tie my first one! Quite a few ladies managed three in a minute, so we were left with about 14balloons after this game. Kolhatkar gave us this impromptu addition to the game which drove us wild - do try it if you are having a kids party! We were 22 and were divided into two teams having 11 members each. One team had the balloons and the 11 members of the other team were provided a pin each. The team with the balloons had to defend their balloons from being pricked by the opposite team. We had only a minute to finish off the balloons. It was quite a confusion, and infused all of us with a lot of energetic activity. The defending team climbed over chairs, racks and cupboards to protect their balloons and we followed them, trying to pull them down. Our team had pricked all their balloons except one - Kolhatkar's. [I found after coming home that I had two nasty bruises on my arms, and my neck has almost sprained - Ha, ha, after a long long time I felt as good as naughty William]
We also played a quiz. Many started off nervous. Obviously none of us want others to know our I.Qs - this was not the regular quiz! The first question left everyone stumped! I asked the ladies to write down Mrs.Patkar's first name [no one had ever called her by her name and she has been here for nearly 30 years!!] - No one knew the answer as anticipated! There were many more great moments. The quiz was mostly related to our friends, colleagues and general knowledge about mundane things which go unnoticed. Neela won it with a good margin. All I can say is while we came to work she established relations with people. I know she will read this - Great going girl!!
We asked everyone to write down the name of a woman in our office whom they found inspiring and the reason for it. We polled it and had decided to give the various women the papers describing her qualities and a gift. We got to know many qualities about our friends which was previously not known to us. We were all winners, but I was the one with maximum votes - 3 (A little surprised but heady and happy!!) That is one moment I am going to cherish for a life time for I know it will lead me do things I never thought I would!! So many many thanks to all those who thought me deserving.
It was Shubhangi's birthday on that day so she had ordered kala jamuns for everyone from Prashant Corner. She was given the honour of cutting the cake. We all sang for her and she said she had never before celebrated her birthday like this!
It was a welcome change for all of us! At the end of it all, on my way home I was humming to myself - 'Somewhere over the rainbow' - Norah Jones' version. It felt so good!!