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My experiences at the WodehouseIndia Convention...

The much discussed Wodehouse India convention did finally happen. Well, it is happening. And when I say it is happening, I mean it in both the teeny bopper sense of the word and the present continuous tense form of the verb. It is closing by around afternoon today. Bobbie has taken the responsibility of writing the official minutes of the meeting and this happens to be the unofficial seconds.

The participants:

Swordfish
Pillingshot
PG
Gally
Sue Brown
Bobby
Stiffy
Claire
Sally
Psmith
Crumpet
Hamilton Beamish with his family
Brat
Reggie Pepper, which coincidentally happens to be my humble self.

Gally insisted that there has been a 40 percent increase in the participation rate since the last convention but I have a slight suspicion that he didn’t take into account the ever growing size of the group. So the magic number 40 should be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt.

I don’t exactly know what happened around the lunch table because I happened to be one of those who came in late. In fact, come to think of it, I was the one who came in latest. Crumpet for a change seemed to be one of the early birds. A few were around the lunch table chewing the cud after giving their all to the excellent stuff provided by the chef, while the rest, I learnt, relapsed, if that is the word I am looking for, to a post lunch siesta.

There was this welcome board put up which said "Welcome to the members of Wodehouse India" or something to that effect. I was given to understand that the chappies had initially misspelled the master's name as woodspacehouse much to the members' chagrin. The marines were called in to rally round and quick damage control was insinuated.

Coming back, just like the rain outside, the members, one after another and sometimes in small groups started trickling back and the revels formally began after we had a full house. From here on I shall breeze through the events.

Quiz - conducted by Claire, with Psmith having most of the inside information.
Reading sessions - H Beamish, Pillingshot, Bobbie, Gally.

As the reading sessions progressed, there were these uninvited guests in the form of winged insects which some serious students of Biology prefer to call the dipterans, who started creating near mayhem causing us to move to more closed environs. And here was where one of the high points of the evening and the convention, when one looks at the big picture, occurred. Bobbie reads "Gussie Fink Nottle distributes the prizes". The whole group, at the end of it was roaring in laughter with tears of mirth running down their cheeks and some were clutching their respective tummies and rolling on the floor. Prior arrangements were made to accommodate all these happenings.

As an aside, there was entertainment in the form of, what history will have it written as “The Hot Chocolate Episode”, which Brat appropriately pointed out as "serious minutes material". I hope justice is done to this laudable observation and due credit and airtime the episode deserves is bestowed upon it in the minutes that are on the way.

Clarence called up and a speaker phone was brought in duly. Only thing was that it was wireless. So some of us had initial doubts if it is capable of receiving calls without the mandatory wire that curls in spirals, we always see at homes, but there was some one who said that the marvels of modern science made it possible. And that certain some one, whom I cannot presently recollect, I reckon did not speak a truer word. The telephone did ring and Clarence was promptly put on speaker for benefit of one and all. Clarence's call was followed by the call from Lord Bosham, who was referred to, in the course of the conversation, as a vociferous writer, by PG. Each of the members gave him a good deal of their respective tongues which Bosham negotiated in a manner far better than the manner Indian batsmen negotiate the Australian bowlers. Joss Wetherby's call followed, where he promised that he would positively meet the members today at the dinner table. Only time, the great healer, will tell how good Joss is at keeping promises.

The whole contingent, if one may call that that, is meeting at Indi Joe. This is an eatery behind TGIF on Airport road. The start time is 7pm and the end time is 9pm.

After the telephone conversations, dinner and drinks followed after which Psmith, Crumpet and self went back to our Cozy homes and the rest were seen tottering back to their rooms to get some good night's sleep that one deserves after a long and eventful day.

PS:    One can join in to the group thus:

Click to join WodehouseIndia

A Hero shall rise...

"My name is Arun Babji, owner of a much-sought-after Yezdi in Pondy, faithful and loyal Alumni to the MBA 96 Batch of Central University - Pondycherry, husband to a orthodox south Indian Tamil wife, father to a one year old son, and I will not miss an alumni meet, in this life or the next."

This is the kind of gladiatorial spirit which Arun employs to attend his alumni meets in Bangalore. We all highly approve of these kinds of Alumni meets and appreciate Arun's enthusiasm in attending such reunions. After-all your adventurous metro-sexual male of today should try every trick in the book to shy away from the boring-middle-aged-man-well-past-his-prime tag that hangs o'er his head like the sword of Damocles; but at the same time, the sequence of events that unfolded over the weekend would make us take a step backwards and ask ourselves the question that the blighter with the messiest hair-do, Upendra goes around asking everyone, only in a slight variation: "Yella Wokay - Zoo Yaaakey???"

The impatient reader would want to yell out at me "What exactly are these sequence of events?". Without any further ado, we shall look at them from this direction and that.

Arun takes Prabha and Chintu on his, Chintu's and not Arun's, first visit to the Bannergatta Zoo on Saturday. Unfortunately or fortunately on the same day there happens to be a college reunion at a friend's (obviously a girl) house on Bannergatta road. Our man leaves Prabha alone with Chintu at the zoo, promising to come back in a jiffy after dropping in just to say a hello to the whole bunch of his friends. He takes along with him, a bosom pal of his (read partner in crime) to meet up with the hyooooj gathering that is waiting for the two of them with great fanfare and pom-poms.

Time, the great healer, passes by; minutes turn into hours and the heat and smell in the zoo starts becoming unbearable. Prabha is waiting for Arun to come back and Chintu is not really impressed with either the animals at the zoo or the long absence of his father. We still do not have a trace of Arun. He finally comes with a contented look on his face and Prabha patiently asks him about the happening at the meet.

And the truth is out here. The meet was sans fanfare, sans pom-poms, sans even the promised huge gathering. All that was there to the meet was just three people. Arun, his friend and one another girl; the girl to whose house Arun incidentally went. The girl's husband was away on a trip to some foreign land. Looking at things from all directions, I see that Arun very cleverly brought up the Zoo and Alumni motif to be around Bannergatta area and meet up with this girl over the weekend. Right under Prabha's nose. Bravo Arun, Bravo!! I bow to you. May you attend many such re-unions.

Pip pip and Toodle-oo,
Arvind