Lok Christmas Party
28th DECEMBER
Well, apart from that it was a party for the staff of Lok hospital and those patients well enough to attend, how can I describe this? Lok has a roof terrace that staff members had worked hard to decorate with streamers wrapped around the corrugated roof supports and paper chains and streamers, providing a colourful festive atmosphere. I have tried to post some photos to give you a flavour of the evening but I am not sure they completely do it justice (to follow). What I don’t think really comes across in the photos is the colourful dress of the ladies present; everyone had made a real effort to come glammed up. It is one of the things I have noticed that I am increasingly loving about India – it’s delight in vibrant and rich colours and decoration, at every opportunity. Saris are such elegant and feminine articles of clothing. And the materials are gorgeous - rich embroidery and deep luscious colours in the silks. Even the workaday haulage trucks here are elaborately coloured and decorated, with sparkling tinsely bits and chains hanging off them and garlands of flowers on every available bedeckable part.
At the front, a couple of 100W flood lights at the front provided the illumination for the “stage” for the evening’s variety programme. Each of the groups of staff had prepared either carols to sing, or a sketch with a gospel theme to it, or a solo song to sing, and the Mistress of Ceremonies, Kalpurna, had also come up with several childrens games with prizes to cater all the families who came. The carols were accompanied by the casio keyboard autochord backing section. The chord sequences selected by the keyboard player were at times rather tenuously linked to the original carols, but it wasn’t too distracting. What was really apparent was the huge effort that each of the groups had put into preparing something to share for the evening, all of which contributed to a varied and entertaining night of music and fun. There were some hilarious party games for which I was volunteered. Hilarity was not the original intention but became the inevitable consequence since I had almost no grasp of what it was we were supposed to be actually doing. All the effort made for a fantastically enjoyable evening for all concerned – really a great atmosphere.
The evenings festivities were divided by a 15 minute gospel address; what was said, I can only guess at, since it was in Hindi, but I think it essentially revolved around an explanation of why Christmas is an event marked in the Christian calendar and what the significance of the birth of Jesus was to humankind. Please pray for those hearts God had prepared to hear this message that evening. There are many staff who are not believers who were present that evening. Somewhat bizarrely, the evening included a random appearance from a Santa who distributed handfuls of sweets to delighted audience members and made a hasty exit stage left. The evening was sumptuously completed by a shared meal of biryani – another must-learn-how-to-cook on my growing list!
Yours in a state of elegant comestible sufficiency (in fact bordering on exacerbated anatomy – that second gulabjamun should have stayed in the bowl!)….
P. S. A complete non-sequitur by means of a post script, but the evening also marked something of an epiphany for me. I have suddenly noticed that about 75% of men here appear to sport a toothbrush or handlebar mustache. It is MUSTACHE CITY here!! The Schnurrbart is clearly a major fashion must have! Does anyone know why? Answers on a post card…..!
Well, apart from that it was a party for the staff of Lok hospital and those patients well enough to attend, how can I describe this? Lok has a roof terrace that staff members had worked hard to decorate with streamers wrapped around the corrugated roof supports and paper chains and streamers, providing a colourful festive atmosphere. I have tried to post some photos to give you a flavour of the evening but I am not sure they completely do it justice (to follow). What I don’t think really comes across in the photos is the colourful dress of the ladies present; everyone had made a real effort to come glammed up. It is one of the things I have noticed that I am increasingly loving about India – it’s delight in vibrant and rich colours and decoration, at every opportunity. Saris are such elegant and feminine articles of clothing. And the materials are gorgeous - rich embroidery and deep luscious colours in the silks. Even the workaday haulage trucks here are elaborately coloured and decorated, with sparkling tinsely bits and chains hanging off them and garlands of flowers on every available bedeckable part.
At the front, a couple of 100W flood lights at the front provided the illumination for the “stage” for the evening’s variety programme. Each of the groups of staff had prepared either carols to sing, or a sketch with a gospel theme to it, or a solo song to sing, and the Mistress of Ceremonies, Kalpurna, had also come up with several childrens games with prizes to cater all the families who came. The carols were accompanied by the casio keyboard autochord backing section. The chord sequences selected by the keyboard player were at times rather tenuously linked to the original carols, but it wasn’t too distracting. What was really apparent was the huge effort that each of the groups had put into preparing something to share for the evening, all of which contributed to a varied and entertaining night of music and fun. There were some hilarious party games for which I was volunteered. Hilarity was not the original intention but became the inevitable consequence since I had almost no grasp of what it was we were supposed to be actually doing. All the effort made for a fantastically enjoyable evening for all concerned – really a great atmosphere.
The evenings festivities were divided by a 15 minute gospel address; what was said, I can only guess at, since it was in Hindi, but I think it essentially revolved around an explanation of why Christmas is an event marked in the Christian calendar and what the significance of the birth of Jesus was to humankind. Please pray for those hearts God had prepared to hear this message that evening. There are many staff who are not believers who were present that evening. Somewhat bizarrely, the evening included a random appearance from a Santa who distributed handfuls of sweets to delighted audience members and made a hasty exit stage left. The evening was sumptuously completed by a shared meal of biryani – another must-learn-how-to-cook on my growing list!
Yours in a state of elegant comestible sufficiency (in fact bordering on exacerbated anatomy – that second gulabjamun should have stayed in the bowl!)….
P. S. A complete non-sequitur by means of a post script, but the evening also marked something of an epiphany for me. I have suddenly noticed that about 75% of men here appear to sport a toothbrush or handlebar mustache. It is MUSTACHE CITY here!! The Schnurrbart is clearly a major fashion must have! Does anyone know why? Answers on a post card…..!
posted by Duncan at 12:29 pm
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