Pajama/Pyjama Party

On a boring Friday afternoon, amongst the many boring mails that keep finding the way to the mailbox, came a surprise invitation. Subject: Dinner Party.

Since most of my colleagues stay near the office and I stay away, I have never been able to make it to these weekend get-togethers. This time however, there was a change. Another colleague who, like me, put up not-so-near the office, was driving down for the party and had offered to bring along others. This was reason enough for me to join in.

But, there was more. The mail (not in the standardized format I previously wrote about) clearly encouraged sexual discrimination. It read :

Guys: Dinner
Gals: Dinner followed by Pajama Party and Booze

Yay! Glad to be a gal …yoo hoo!

I know I sound like a talli. The truth is I don’t drink and going by the past record, I was sure there would be hardly any takers for booze. Even if there were, breezers is how far they would go. Come on. We are the same people who when order pizzas, vegetarian orders exceed non-vegetarian ones!!!

All enthused, I joined my lift-giving colleague. First destination: Booze Shop.
Me to myself “ ok ok.. they must be buying the breezers”

Girl 1 to Booze shop guy: Tequila and Vodka please.
Me: *gulp* These ladies are serious!

After buying the Tequila (1800 bucks!) and Vodka, we headed to the house of our gracious hostess. She had just returned from the shop and proudly held two really really yellow lemons. Ah! The stage was set!

There were seven of us. All girls. The guys got offended when they realized that they will not be allowed to join in the pajama and booze party. They even offered to wear floral pajamas. When still denied entry, they decided to boycott dinner.

All of us then headed for dinner. Vegetarian food, mostly. :-)

Dinner was followed by a game of truth or dare. After harassing quite a few people with our dares and most of us itching to get into pajamas, we rushed back to the venue for our parteeee.

After changing into pajamas/ shorts and making all arrangements, four of them perched on the bed encircling the booze and the glasses. I was reminded of what a friend had remarked when I told him I was going for the party “ Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, a girls’ pajama party. That only happens in my dreams!” This, dude, was reality.

Two others gave me company (one out of choice, the other by compulsion as this is a sacred month in her religion) and we sat around cheering them.

Didn’t quite get the point of gulping down a drink and sucking at lemons furiously after that?! And they didn’t even get high…:-(

We watched Notting Hill. Everybody almost fell asleep by the time half of it was over. Obviously Hugh Grant’s charms were not working. So, everybody took the next logical step. We did what all pajama parties must have. Sat in a group and talked about our respective romantic relationships- past and present.

Not going to bore you with the details ..;-) ..hehehe

What I did realize however was that I was sitting amongst a group of modern women: intelligent, ambitious, attractive, successful. But they all seemed to have their values in place. Virginity is still important. Parental approval did matter. Sorry to sound clichéd .I know these may be outdated ideas for some people. But to these girls and to me, they still hold a place of importance.

Slept at 4:30 in the morning. Got up at 9:30. Had lunch with a college friend at Pizza Hut when the waiters suddenly broke into bhangra! Not good. Then talked to my sister who dragged me to…..well that is for next time, if there is one!