Our first Compatibility Quiz

Diwali may be a week away but we got to celebrate and enjoy the festival on this weekend itself. We got to know about the get-together from one of the lunch time Indian friends of Adarsh. It was organised by the employees of the office where this friend worked. Since it is a Chennai based company, as expected, it was organised by a couple of Tamilians. So for one thing, both Adarsh and I did not feel out of place since we could easily understand all the conversations going on around us. Luckily Adarsh knew some of them too. I had fun looking around the animated faces, kids and chatty ladies (something that you don't get to see often here). I got on really well with the friend's wife and struck up a lively chat with her. Luckily for me, I decided to wear one of my Chudidhars for the function. Every lady in the hall except for the British was decked up in a colourful saree. The only British lady was the wife of the supervisor of the employees. It was funny to watch the shock, amazement and confusion registered on their faces while witnessing the multiple cultural programs which included inumerable Tamil duets and a couple of hip grinding dances. All of them were a sight to watch. It is the sheer enthusiasm of these people that has to be appreciated. It is the thirst to reach out to the roots that makes people take initiatives like the above.

Now it was time to play a few games. All of them turned out to be couple games. There were about 14 couples registered in the room. The first round was Dumb Charades. Adarsh acted and I guessed the movie to be K3G. So, we sailed into the second round. This round consisted of the compatibility quiz which had 5 questions. This was really hilarious and as I realised later, it was our first Compatibility quiz. Our performance was not that bad - we got 3 out of 5 correct. There you go - we qualified for the third round. By far, this was the best. Of the 3 finalist couples, we were asked to participate first. It was as simple as transferring grapes in spoons held in our mouths without using our hands. We were the youngest couple and the rest of them had great fun at our expense. We really enjoyed playing the game. Ultimately we came third. But the bottom line was the fun that we had. It reiterated the fact that both Adarsh and I enjoy almost similar things.

Finally there was a colourful display of crackers. Unfortunately it was not exciting as there are a lot of rules regarding the sound and smoke that these crackers can produce. So most of them were really small and insignificant. Nevertheless, everybody had fun bursting crackers. The best thing was that the smoke did not cause any throat irritation. Back in India, 8 out of 10 people complain of throat problems after Diwali.

This event was held in a Christian community centre. It was a great cultural amalgamation to have a "Happy Diwali 2010" poster beside a Christian cross. Such things make life really interesting here. It is not about the scale of the event, but the effort and spirit that these event embody. Hats off to the organisers and a heartfelt 'thank you ' to them for inviting people from outside their work place with open arms.

After a very filling, tasty and huge dinner, we bid goodbye to some of our new acquaintances and headed back home filled with good food and lovely memories.