The contours went up and down dressing up the skin as I glared at the tattoo Usha was getting on her shoulder! We were in a tattoo parlor.
Why Usha wants a tattoo in the first place and that too on that particular spot, I wondered! But its “IN” you see, she seems to be saying by the way she looked at me! "If you feel good at having one, here I am all set to appreciate this gorgeous body art. Old fashioned I may be but what’s wrong in being appreciative!"I said.
London bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down…
Build it up with… her cell rang!
“Please pick up the phone”, said as she was driving. “Hello”, I say. ”Where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu? We all are hungry and waiiiiiiiting for you”, the much familiar voice of my friend questioned me from the other end.
“We will be there in another few minutes”, I said. The reason for being late, the henna tattoo artist had to do a neat job you see! Here was a bunch of happy, excited, did I hear “hungry” ladies waiting at a Zinj restaurant for us.
Well, we friends had decided to throw a farewell party to one of our friend who was leaving the island for good.
Now, let me explain this Zing restaurant for you. If you are in love, this ‘Zinjy thing’ is a very romantic place.
Any other restaurant, if you are married for over 20 years.
A different place if you are one amongst us boisterous ladies having yet another time of our life. Ok let me put it this way.
Nine friends & Myself = Chemistry. What chemistry? The atoms inside a bomb… now don’t think it’s a nuke bomb but our very own Diwali desi fire bomb. That’s what we ladies are there for! To have a blast!
We forget everything, (except husbands, thanks to our mobiles which takes care of that) talk, laugh and share all those good moments loudly. Like that evening, in the name of a party we ate, laughed and made merry! Did I hear one friend quipping,’ Tomorrow I will have to work out an extra hour in the gym’, Well…
Now, I had a personal problem in dealing with my nose during the entire evening. All the while, the air getting into my nostrils played dandiya (an Indian dance)! Every breadth I inhaled was Greek and Latin to my poor nostrils! My brain and my nose worked overtime in trying to identify the plethora or colors, smells and shapes because my senses are at home only in the restaurants of the Manama kind, you see!
For me, anything white in a dish is suspicious, anything sticky, I will not like, any penchant odor dish is a ‘no no’, anything red and shapely, stay away, then what the hell was I doing here?! Being a vegan didn’t stop me from being with my pals whether I chew on leaves, raw veggies or dollops of desserts, I have to be there for any party we throw for whoever is leaving, whoever has comeback, who ever gave birth, whosever’s birthday or just for the sake of being together.
In every party there should be some highlight and for us that day it was when the waiter came with a 70 Dinar bill. OMG!!!, I bet none of us expected it because prior to our arrival one of our friend had told us that if we have a Stan Cha card then there would be a 50% discount. And we being smart cookies did bring in a friend with her husband’s Stan cha card so, we were all mentally prepared for this!
I heard five or more voices saying, “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”, when the waiter asked us whether we had that card. To me, that “Ya” sounded like, “Then what man, we have come prepared with that particular card”. Poor fellow, I can’t explain in words the look he had when he took back the bill silently to change!
Once again I was having the time of my life. Though we are a group of busy and responsible home makers, we won’t hesitate to get together to party once in a while, like once we all remembered our grandmothers, there goes a nostalgic Grandmas Party, we think of our teen years and lo, there is a Teeny Bopper Party and the last we had was the Bath Party, no no, don’t get me wrong and imagine that we ladies got crazy and took a dip in the bath tub, it was in the name of a south Indian delicacy which my friends wanted to eat and there goes the Bath Party at home! All these partying is a great change from our routine lives and definitely therapeutic if you ask me!
As you all know we ladies come from every corner of the sub-continent with different tongues and tastes, yet here in Bahrain we are all together speaking one common “foreign” language i.e. English, where I am laughing, learning and making merry with all the sweet memories to cherish for a life time.
Being away from home for years, our friends become our families here. Every one being busy in their own lives yet taking time out to be with friends and partying together is never a sin but a whole lot of good din!
As I bid goodbye to my friend who was leaving, the tattoo on Usha's shoulder glared at me. Do you want to know what it said? Well, it simply said... L-A-U-G-H… in of course an artistic font!
Dear friends, laugh a lot for when you’re older; all your wrinkles will be in the right places!
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