This blog was hardly supposed to be a chronological account of my anxieties and adversities but since they seem to be all magnetically drawn to me, its hard to escape and disregard them.
The Day of German Unity ( this year it was celebrated on the 6th of October 2010 ) also made no allowances in that direction. The Day had its share of disruptions but inadvertently ended on quite a pleasant note. Here is a bit by bit account of the same.
The concept of RSVP is for all practical purposes totally antediluvian to Bangaloreans, we had sent out almost five hundred invitations and from the other missions' paradigm we were expecting close to 200 - 250 guests. By the 1st of October we had received only 20 RSVPs and this was inclusive the in-house acceptances of the invitations. We were in a very precarious situation now, and as all desperate times call for desperate measures we started calling up all the guests on our invite list to confirm their presence. Amusingly 80% of them replied in affirmative.
Concurrently another brouhaha was in the offing. The Diplomatic missions' disposition is not very unique from the common man's, even they vie with each other as to who attended who's party especially on their National Days. As a matter of principle the bureaucratic community doesn't attend these events ( uniquely in Bangalore). The ceremonial invitations are however sent, and though they acknowledge it in principle its not followed in practice, therefore it was quite a pleasant surprise to our Consul General when the Chief Secretary and the Governor both sent their written acceptances. So far so good, we sent them the written program of the day, where the German Anthem was to be played before the Indian National Anthem ( as against the Indian protocol but accepted in many other countries on National days), naturally the ADC objected, and insisted that the Indian should be played before the German one. It took the drawing of a leaf from the book of the Embassy in Delhi to put an end to the protocol dilemma, that Indian National Anthem would be played before the German one.
We were just getting to be slightly sanguine about the whole event on the morning of 6th October 2010 when there was a political imbroglio in the state of Karnataka, which became worse as the evening fell and blighted all our hopes :(. The roads leading to Vidhana Soudha and Raj Bhavan were totally choked, ironically our reception was at the Taj West End Hotel which is apparently at the heart of this commotion. Incessant rains only added to our woes. I was myself stuck in the traffic for exasperating 90 mins and reached after the arrival of all the "dignitaries" As one of the hosts and as " mistress of the ceremony" I was expected to be on time and was sure to be reprimanded for being late. ( i was miraculously forgiven).
There was however one mortification left to be faced. When the Chief Secretary commenced his speech the guests were palavering uninterrupted. From a group of guests who belong to the top most echelons of the corporate world and boast to come from a very refined and well bred society the behavior was self derogatory and belittling, especially when they need all sorts of favors from the Government for their industries. This embarrassment lasted for about 20 mins after which our Chief guests left and the buffet was declared open.
Not everything was bleak and grim as painted by me so far, the food was simply superb and quite a few comments flowed in for the same. The guests were in good attendance in spite of the traffic snarls. My two friends had also joined me for the very evening and together we all had a good time.Irrespective of all the stumbling blocks it somehow turned out to be one of the finest evenings i have spent in Bangalore.
Liebe Grüße
Suyasha
PS: Now for those who attended the party and also happen to read the blog, kindly note: you have to read between the lines here and comment accordingly. I have dropped a couple of hints here and there. Iff your train of thought is still boarding its station or you are going to bestow on me some irrelevant tangents please refrain and kindly check with me before posting :)
volumes have been said about Indians and their unique brand of social etiquette .. so i shall refrain..
ReplyDeleteBut the post script is quite an invitation .. and with all this mention about Indians and etiquette I can hardly decline.. :P
despite all the claimed self control the narcissist still shines forth.. at least for the enlightened ones "mistress of the ceremony " aha :))
Hey sis, it was both german and Indian groups who were jabbering away to glory, secondly "mistress of the ceremony is a synonym for "the anchor of the event" so it was hardly narcisstic, at least not here :P
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to remind you that more than a " few comments flowed in" and you didnt comment why you were "miraculously forgiven" even after arriving 90 mins late in your own reception.......moreover you didnt mention the good parts!!!! ;-)
ReplyDelete@behna: pun intended.. :P
ReplyDelete@survi: to cover the good parts she'd soon be starting an exclusive blog.. a mere mention would never have sufficed.. u c :)
If I may try to put the scenario in a picture format: I try to visualise all the problems you stated as people who try to force themselves into a door at the same time. If all of them get inside, pandemonium will break out. But since they are all trying to get in at the same time, they get stuck at the door, unable to get in.
ReplyDeleteThe same applies to the National Day Party, it seems. All possible problems and signs of troubles at the very doorstep, but the party was still a success. :)
Myself having marched in during the speech, I'd have to say you played your role really well and no one would have guessed that you were stressed. You looked gorgeous and I guess all this makes everything worth it :)
ReplyDelete