<<-- The hero of the day

Occasion: Potluck
Location : Sasi's house in Edison
Date: March 26 2005

Somebody came up with this brilliant idea of having a potluck at Sasi's residence before her last day with Infosys. Mar 31 2006 was the last day that she could call herslf an Infoscion.
And, we all know how people tend to forget others after leaving one company and moving to another...so in order to avoid the possibility of not having had potluck ever at Sasi's house Neelima came up with the idea of having a Potluck at Sasi's.
Moreover that also gave us a chance to harass one last time ... he he he... just kidding.

Now back to serious stuff..
For the ignorant, A potluck is a gathering of people for a meal where the participants are expected to bring food to be shared among everyone at the gathering. These gatherings are often organized by churches, Mosques and other community groups since they simplify the meal planning and distribute the costs among the participants. Smaller get-togethers may also occur in the form of potlucks.

So it was decided that every one would reach the venue at lunch time with some food item of their own.We were given the task of carrying along cans of sodas n sprite.
The initial invitation was extended to a few hundred people but on the day just about 4 families and our group of 3 bachelors and one bachelorette were ready to pot our luck.

Shivpujan's daughter fell ill, so he opted out but his wife had prepared their share of chicken curry and whether Shiv attended the Potluck or not, the chicken curry had to be there.
So we picked up the chicken curry from Shiv at the station and embarked on our journey to Edison.

We got a little late due to various factors (including indecisiveness on some fronts) , compounded by the fact that the train ran few and far between on Sundays. So we reached about an hour late (2pm) at Edison Station.Sasi's husband (also named Sasi) came to pick us up at the station. We knew nothing about him except that he d be in a black car and wearing an orange t-shirt.
Thankfully one of us remembered the color else we d be running after every car checking if he was looking for us :-) .... kidding again.

Mr. Sasi asked us if we could help him finish up the beer cans that he had stacked up in the fridge.He had brought em home with great expectations hoping that there would be beer flowing all over and glasses (cans) clinking cheers. But that wasnt to be....satish (being a gentle man in his wife's presence) was having lemonade and refused to have even a sip of beer.
The other guys (Hari and Neelima's husband (Well Hari's wife is also Neelima...thank god Neelimas husband is not Hari...hey dont try to understand who is who or you d get confused) ) were also with their wives and could not dare to drink beer in front of them ( Hey.... just adding some masala...dont beat me if u ever read this..).One small voice said that we would finish up all the cans...bringing a bright twinkle in Mr. Sasi's eyes

Finally when we reached the house it was about 2:30 pm.Every one was so excited to see us.
I never knew we were so famous and loved.The noises were muffled and not very clear, so we went closer to hear...and then we knew why every one was so excited about us reaching there..
They were shouting..."Chicken...Chicken...Quickly give us the chicken" all in a chorus
We were disappointed that 250 grams of chicken curry could out weigh 4 of us..each weighing not less than 50 kgs.After some nakhras and nautanki we parted with the chicken... probably we should have eaten it during the long journey from Newport to Edison :-)

(Surya with his wife)










(Hari and Neelima)





Surya with his family,Hari and Neelima,Neelima and her husband (not Hari),Satish and family and Sasi,Sasi and family... were the people present.


Oh and i didnt mention untill now...we were four...Bhavani,Manash,Sushil and me... how did i forget to write that in the beginning..

(Appraisal time with dad)














Mr. Sasi ran in and brought out 2 cans of Heineken beer... well i wasnt really in the mood..what with a headache already...but decided to shoot for one can...after all what can one harmless can of beer do to you....Sushil snatched one too

(Thats what we call as a "Happy Meal")

Immediately afterwards people started rushing to the table to have their rumbling tummies silenced...biryanis,paneer,chicken,bhel u name it u got it...There was plenty of stuff to eat and after the lunch there was cake as well...I wonder how this concept of eating sweet after a heavy meal came into existence...well not that it matters

(Hari and Satish enjoying lunch)

Lots of gupshup (well surprisingly Neelima (not Haris wife) was very quiet today) followed.
Satish was at his usual eloquent best ...making up some stories and reciting them with the enthusiasm of a 6 year old kid who has just learnt "Twinkle Twinkle little star" by heart....
Added to that Satish's wife also seemed to be equally enthusiastic in bashing up Satish and poor Satish tried sneaking and hiding everytime she did that... ( they make a really cute couple though :-) )













(The Powerpuff Girls)

The kids were busy playing on the computer and watching Asterix movies...well give em Asterix and Tintin any day and do what you wish for the rest of your day

(Mera Ek lauta bat tod diya..sob sob)

After all the gupshup it was time for some cricket...we had a cricket bat but no tennis ball So Satish and Surya went out to get some tennis balls....In the mean time the others started playing cricket with the leather ball...


Every thing was going smoothly and calmly when Manash in a mad rush of blood tried to hit the ball so hard that the bat cracked into two (actually the handle broke..)



Few minutes later Satish came in running with 3 brand new tennis balls only to see that the bat had been broken already....

That was disappointing, but Mr. Sasi came to our rescue throwing out the baseball bat from the window above.
Then we started playing cricket with that lean n mean baseball stick.

(Satish having a go with the baseball bat)

Every one including Bhavani gave it a try and some of us managed to get some powerful sixers with that bat.

But every one was soon bored of playing cricket with a baseball bat and there fore we decided that it was now time to play some soccer...

Well, all rounders that we are, we can transform from Bradman to Maradona in no time at all.Satish was surprisingly quick and nimble and seemed like he was leaving his age and body behind while playing soccer....(ha..i know u rnt that old)..Every one took to soccer like a fish takes to water and we enjoed that more than the few minutes of cricket that we tried out.

The game came to an end when Hari decided that the best way to take the ball from Satish was not trying to hit the football, but trying to kick the footballer.Wasting no time at all in implementing the master plan, Hari ran like a cheetah and kicked Satish on his knee with all his might, the impact of which caused Satish to fall down flat on the ground.

Holding his bruised leg and writhing and wriggling with pain Satish limped off to a safe spot.Soon the game came to a halt and we decided it was time to stop the match which had gone out of control due to the absence of a match referee.

<-- (The soccer team)

It was time for a football team picture.

After the picture, everyone went back inside the house, except for a few of us who continued on the quest to "Bend it like Beckham"

We played for about an hour or so and wouldnt have stopped for some more time hadnt we managed to bring down the covering of the electricity supply with one forceful kick.
We quietly put on the cover back on and left for the more peaceful zone that existed within the house.Moreover it was already a little late for us.
One thing we missed was Simerjeet and her baby doll,Jasleen.Every one was waiting for the Chhatwal family to arrive but she was busy as some guests had unexpectedly dropped into her residence.
So the bachelors decided to leave for the day.After all it was a tiring and exhausting journey back from Edison to Newport.Satish and family also left for the day.Surya and family had already left well before us.The others who stayed back decided to go and meet Simer at her house and then go to the park with the kids to have some fun.That trip to the park would probably make the day for Sasi's daughter who was a lil bored by the elderly folks around her.
And she definitely missed some girlie fun ... so next time there can be no potluck without Jasleen.. :-)



Signing off !!