collecting memories --valentines day 2009 at 'Mingles'

Ishrat called Tara much before the day of the party to tell us to mark 14 Feb on our dairy and said 'I am telling you in advance so that there is no way you can give an excuse and not attend'! We thought, who would want to miss a party hosted by Munir and Ishrat , they are so much fun.

As the day of the party neared, I realised that 14 Feb was Valentine's day and was a bit worried! We know how it is viewed by a segment of our janata, as a totally western decadent festival which went against the very grain of our great Indian culture. In fact, a group of Indians calling themselves Ramsena have harassed couples and have even beaten them up for partying on Valentine's day. They had even threatened that they would get the couples who were found dancing together forcibly married!

Worried about the Ramsena, I reminded Tara about all the risks we may be taking and asked 'Should we really go?' She patiently replied 'We are in Bangkok not in India'. I came back to my senses (now a days I drift into the Indian mode often) and said 'Let's go! This is my first Valentine's day party and we may not get an other opportunity in India'. But being a worrier and remembering that there is a sizable population of Indians in Bangkok, I cautioned her: 'You know I don't dance and be careful if you want to dance. Just come running to me if by chance there is a raid by the Thai -Indian Ramsena'.

I am relieved to report that there was no raid by the Sena and we were home safe!

There was wonderful music old and new.


The hosts setting the tone of the evening.


This should inspire a bollywood lyricist to write one more 'Choli ke .....' type of song!


There were drinks

includng lime juice for some!

and Excellent food

Interesting conversations were had.

Exchange of thoughts by the young

Also guidance to the young

Some serious talks as well

and even across the table

There were even spell binding ones!

Suddenly it was party time.

A few were taught new steps

Many danced in groups

Others as couples

They were also singing along

Or were lost in music.

A few danced individually to the photographer's delight

Party slowly wound down as dancers took a break

The waiters dimmed the lights, I believe they wanted to us go home.

It surely was time to go home.

I had asked Ishrat if there was a theme and a purpose for this party. She replied:

It was thanks to Malini and Chitra that we have such nice photographs.
Actually there was no theme as such.
Munir and I had been wanting to invite evrybody for such a long time. But time flies by so so fast.
So we just thought ok, some time in February after the hectice partying during Diwali and then New Year. And a saturday in mid Feb is what we decided on which so conveninetly was 14th feb. Valentines Day.
So we thought why not? Lets have a Valentines party (although to be very honest we have never either hosted or attended a Velentines party before) but every body seemed to think it was a great idea!!
Look forward to your write up on this party
Ishrat

What a coincidence that it was their first Valentine's party as well! Great job and we all had a wonderful time.

A few more pictures for our memory bank: