The day finally arrived, and as expected, it turned out to be a lot of fun. The plan was simple: gather around 10:30 AM and start preparations for the event.
And then came the first surprise.
Kutty Ramesh was the first one at the venue. Absolutely no one else around. This, from a man who usually makes a grand (and late) entrance. His exact message summed it up perfectly:
“It feels different to be the first one in the ground.”
Indeed, it did.
I reached SD with my family around 10:20 AM and was immediately informed that I had been promoted to official driver of the Anjappar vehicle, fully loaded with grills, groceries, plates, cups, and everything that makes an event possible (and chaotic). Slowly but surely, people started arriving. By around 11:20 AM, the stuff was unloaded and the grill began warming up, both literally and figuratively.
This time, we added bouncy houses to the mix, and that credit goes entirely to Bosco. The vendor was asked to arrive at 10:30 AM, but at 10:45 AM Bosco was still at home… trimming his mustache. Bosco being Bosco. 🙂
Meanwhile, Admin was everywhere, capturing people in action, people pretending to be in action, and people wondering why they were in action. Jay being Jay.
Families started coming in, kids immediately swarmed the bouncy houses, and omelettes and parottas mysteriously disappeared, mostly consumed by people disguised as volunteers.
And then there’s Srini. A man with a system. Always. He kicked things off with caprisun juice (supposed to be for kids), followed by dosa (including Nutella dosa), parotta, omelette and to prepare himself for the next round, he began organizing a ball-catch game. Clearly, digestion was a planned activity.
Once the Anjappar food was laid out, lunch went surprisingly smoothly, no drama, no shortages, just happy plates and fuller stomachs.
Jersey and momento distribution started around 2:30 PM. Unfortunately, Amit and Kutty Ramesh, who were deeply involved in food prep, were out running errands at that moment. Slight disappointment, but duties come first.
Names were picked randomly by our guests of honor(Bosco’s parents, Sampath, and Karthik’s brother-in-law) and families were called up to present jerseys and momentos to the club members. A nice, warm moment all around.
A pleasant surprise during the distribution was Siva, who was not expected to attend the event. He arrived just in time for the jersey distribution and received his jersey and momento.
As the evening cooled down, the ladies took charge of tea preparation. The ginger tea, especially in the chilly weather, was nothing short of a throat-warming punch.
And of course, Srini completed his full cycle, finishing with kesari and topping it off with ginger tea. System intact.
Just before wrapping up, there were some friendly fight over the Indian sweets brought by Aravindh. It was finally decided to save and share them during the upcoming game.
The old jerseys were thrown off, marking the arrival of the new ones.
There was also an attempt for some malicious activity by Karthik on Prabu, but Prabu escaped it the way a gazelle escapes from a lion.
Leftover food was neatly packed for dinner, the venue was wrapped up, and the day ended on a calm, satisfying note. We can safely call the event a success.
I personally thank each and every one of you for making this celebration memorable.
Credits where they are due:
- Overall Coordination: Jay
- Finance Management: Srini
- Banner: Dinesh
- Bouncy House: Bosco
- Momentos: Vimal and Dinesh
- Jerseys: Ramesh M, Krishna, Aravindh, and Dinesh
- Chairs & Canopy Arrangement: Babu, Rajesh and Arun R
- Food: Ramesh L, Paulraj, and DD
- Onsite Kitchen: Arul, Karthik, Prabu, Sriram, Ramesh M, Amit and Suresh
- Camera – Mani, Amit and Sriram
Here’s to teamwork, good food, happy families, and many more such gatherings ahead.
– Your Moderator, Dinesh
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