Last 3 years, International Day in Dulwich has been a really big deal for me personally - so I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to completely skip writing about this event last year. All the more since last year was special in a whole different way!! Anyway, to repeat what is fast becoming the motto of this blog - better late than never - here it is, International Day, a year ago!!
Second year in a row, I was the India country rep - first year quite by accident, and then the second year, by default!! To be honest, I was quite looking forward to it - I had some ideas that I was hoping to try out!! This year, India was on its own - no Bangladesh to share the booth - our neighbors would be missed for sure!! Initial meeting for the team setup - these are usually a waste of time, in my opinion - the people who would end up working, I meet all the time - and those who are not interested, don't show up to any meetings - but protocol must be followed, and all Indian parents are invited to the kick-off meeting, with suggestions and opinions!!
First thing on the agenda - what do we serve at the booth?? With Indian cuisine, the possibilities are endless - from biryani to pav-bhaji to chicken curry and samosas - as long as someone volunteers to cook, anything is possible!! Unfortunately, not many people are - understandably - willing to cook something tedious. So what are we looking for - easy to make, easy to serve and most important, appealing to the expat crowd!! So it came down to paneer frankies, chicken tikka, samosas, idli-chutney, gulab-jamun and mint lemonade - quite an extensive spread, isn't it??
Next on the list - the country basket. Indian baskets are usually packed with a bunch of spices, lentils and curry mixes - and although all this fills up the basket admirably, I always wonder if any of these items are really used by the eventual basket winner. Not to mention, we have to buy all these basket items - which considerably increases the contribution money - which in turn, leads to a lot of grumbling. So this year, I decided that the only thing we would buy was Kingfisher beer - beer is always a crowd-pleaser, right? - and everything else in the basket would be donations - if that meant we had a smaller basket, so be it!!
I had in mind a very basic basket - the beer, of course; a box of Taj Mahal tea, couple of Haldiram snack mixtures, couple of ready-to-eat curries - and a last minute idea - I had a spare Indian spice box, a stainless steel version found in homes all across India - filled the 7 little boxes with whole spices, and added that to the basket. And then, so many handicraft donations came in - that we ended up making 2 baskets - one food basket, and one handicraft basket. Funny thing is, when SK, VH and I got together to assemble the baskets - we were quite lost - finally called in an expert - thanks, MW, for helping us put together these gorgeous baskets!!
And now the reason this International Day was so special - the India entry for the entertainment program. We had an ace up our sleeve this year - SK, our very talented, accomplished friend - who was a classically trained dancer in Kathak and Bharatnatyam!! So no doubt that we were going to put up a spectacular performance!! Except that SK was quite keen that we put up a group dance with kids and moms - and then another mom PR was quite enthusiastic about the idea - pulling VH and a very reluctant me into the group. Yes, I was going to dance - I still can't believe I agreed to this - it's no secret that I have 2 huge left feet - so clumsy, I'm incapable of walking from one room to another without bumping into something, leave alone dance!!!
To her credit, SK accepted all the responsibility - and she was quite confident that she could teach anyone to dance - yes, even a total klutz like me! So began the rehearsals - we were to do a garba on the song 'Nagada' - the original Deepika Padukone song is breath-taking, and watching her dance on Youtube did absolutely nothing for our collective morale!! SK, however, is really, really good - and she managed to choreograph moves that were relatively easy for us, which also looked quite pretty!! Have to admit - rehearsals were a lot of fun, and it seemed like we wouldn't make total fools of ourselves!
There was a bit of a crisis the day before the event - it started to rain - and FoD had to scramble to move the entire event indoors. Country booths were changed to tables - all moved into the SS cafeteria - and there wouldn't be enough space for decoration. So when I showed up at school in the morning, wasn't really sure what to expect! India had been assigned a pretty good spot, and we also had a pillar behind us - so we were able to put up a couple of posters as well. As soon as all the team members arrived, our food and decoration was setup - just in time for the hungry people coming in!! The rainy day, chilly weather - our warm frankies were a big hit, and the rest of the food quickly sold out too!!
And soon, too soon, it was time to go backstage to get ready for our dance!! Butterflies - no, practically the entire animal kingdom - doing their own version of the dance in my stomach!! Our performance started off with only the 4 girls on stage - and then when they exit after about a minute and half, the audience started to applaud thinking the performance was over - and then our entry just about brought the house down!! We alternated one more time, and then all kids and moms on stage for the grand finale!! I can barely remember being on stage - just remember being very, very tense - and total complete relief with the final applause!! Watch the video - it's true, I did dance on stage!!
So much excitement - had a really wonderful day!! First the performance, and then our baskets fetched a record amount - which made me really happy, especially because we had spent so little cash on them!! Surprisingly, the spice-box was a bit hit - so many people asked me later if I could get one for them from India - don't know about that, but I do know what's going in the basket next year - and I did make sure that the spice rack was in the basket this year too!! With this post, I'm a little closer to getting caught up - couple more 'blast from the past' blogs, and I'll be all synced up!! Fingers crossed!!
Second year in a row, I was the India country rep - first year quite by accident, and then the second year, by default!! To be honest, I was quite looking forward to it - I had some ideas that I was hoping to try out!! This year, India was on its own - no Bangladesh to share the booth - our neighbors would be missed for sure!! Initial meeting for the team setup - these are usually a waste of time, in my opinion - the people who would end up working, I meet all the time - and those who are not interested, don't show up to any meetings - but protocol must be followed, and all Indian parents are invited to the kick-off meeting, with suggestions and opinions!!
First thing on the agenda - what do we serve at the booth?? With Indian cuisine, the possibilities are endless - from biryani to pav-bhaji to chicken curry and samosas - as long as someone volunteers to cook, anything is possible!! Unfortunately, not many people are - understandably - willing to cook something tedious. So what are we looking for - easy to make, easy to serve and most important, appealing to the expat crowd!! So it came down to paneer frankies, chicken tikka, samosas, idli-chutney, gulab-jamun and mint lemonade - quite an extensive spread, isn't it??
Next on the list - the country basket. Indian baskets are usually packed with a bunch of spices, lentils and curry mixes - and although all this fills up the basket admirably, I always wonder if any of these items are really used by the eventual basket winner. Not to mention, we have to buy all these basket items - which considerably increases the contribution money - which in turn, leads to a lot of grumbling. So this year, I decided that the only thing we would buy was Kingfisher beer - beer is always a crowd-pleaser, right? - and everything else in the basket would be donations - if that meant we had a smaller basket, so be it!!
I had in mind a very basic basket - the beer, of course; a box of Taj Mahal tea, couple of Haldiram snack mixtures, couple of ready-to-eat curries - and a last minute idea - I had a spare Indian spice box, a stainless steel version found in homes all across India - filled the 7 little boxes with whole spices, and added that to the basket. And then, so many handicraft donations came in - that we ended up making 2 baskets - one food basket, and one handicraft basket. Funny thing is, when SK, VH and I got together to assemble the baskets - we were quite lost - finally called in an expert - thanks, MW, for helping us put together these gorgeous baskets!!
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| India country baskets |
And now the reason this International Day was so special - the India entry for the entertainment program. We had an ace up our sleeve this year - SK, our very talented, accomplished friend - who was a classically trained dancer in Kathak and Bharatnatyam!! So no doubt that we were going to put up a spectacular performance!! Except that SK was quite keen that we put up a group dance with kids and moms - and then another mom PR was quite enthusiastic about the idea - pulling VH and a very reluctant me into the group. Yes, I was going to dance - I still can't believe I agreed to this - it's no secret that I have 2 huge left feet - so clumsy, I'm incapable of walking from one room to another without bumping into something, leave alone dance!!!
To her credit, SK accepted all the responsibility - and she was quite confident that she could teach anyone to dance - yes, even a total klutz like me! So began the rehearsals - we were to do a garba on the song 'Nagada' - the original Deepika Padukone song is breath-taking, and watching her dance on Youtube did absolutely nothing for our collective morale!! SK, however, is really, really good - and she managed to choreograph moves that were relatively easy for us, which also looked quite pretty!! Have to admit - rehearsals were a lot of fun, and it seemed like we wouldn't make total fools of ourselves!
There was a bit of a crisis the day before the event - it started to rain - and FoD had to scramble to move the entire event indoors. Country booths were changed to tables - all moved into the SS cafeteria - and there wouldn't be enough space for decoration. So when I showed up at school in the morning, wasn't really sure what to expect! India had been assigned a pretty good spot, and we also had a pillar behind us - so we were able to put up a couple of posters as well. As soon as all the team members arrived, our food and decoration was setup - just in time for the hungry people coming in!! The rainy day, chilly weather - our warm frankies were a big hit, and the rest of the food quickly sold out too!!
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| Incredible India!! |
And soon, too soon, it was time to go backstage to get ready for our dance!! Butterflies - no, practically the entire animal kingdom - doing their own version of the dance in my stomach!! Our performance started off with only the 4 girls on stage - and then when they exit after about a minute and half, the audience started to applaud thinking the performance was over - and then our entry just about brought the house down!! We alternated one more time, and then all kids and moms on stage for the grand finale!! I can barely remember being on stage - just remember being very, very tense - and total complete relief with the final applause!! Watch the video - it's true, I did dance on stage!!
So much excitement - had a really wonderful day!! First the performance, and then our baskets fetched a record amount - which made me really happy, especially because we had spent so little cash on them!! Surprisingly, the spice-box was a bit hit - so many people asked me later if I could get one for them from India - don't know about that, but I do know what's going in the basket next year - and I did make sure that the spice rack was in the basket this year too!! With this post, I'm a little closer to getting caught up - couple more 'blast from the past' blogs, and I'll be all synced up!! Fingers crossed!!
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