Kitty Party

While browing a recent family photo album I came across pictures of a recent Kitty party at home. I think my sister had clicked them.

What is a Kitty party?

I am not sure why it is called Kitty party.

I have never been in one.

But I know that is a ladies-only affair. And its supposed to be their afternoon/evening of indulgence.

I tried to think of what exactly happens. Here is my understanding:

A group of women and their other women friends - okay lets call them aunties - get bored.

So they decide to have fun.

They pool in money and every month or every 3 weeks (depending on how fast they get bored), they group together in one of the ladies' homes.

Usually they meet around 3pm when they are done with lunch and when the men of the house are (thankfully) away at work.

They come dressed in sarees. Some in beautiful salwars.

Usually each one is trying to out-do the other.

Aunties bring their daughters if they are old enough to play games, but young enough to not understand complicated gossip. Aunties that brought their sons are considered losers.

The host of the party prepares a host of snacks and sweets. Pun intended!

Or just orders them from the nearby shop.

The goal of each host is to out-do the previous host.

Typically the menu would include: khara (hot condiments), sweets, sharbat, poha, upma, rava idli.

If Nita and Tina Ambani had their kitty parties, probably the menu would include: low-fat-high protein-medium carbo-high oxygen-i-love-ipl-grass-n-leaves....
to something more healthier such as.....chocolate-dressed-brownie-laced-with-sugar-syrup-soaked-in-dont-make-me-cry-anymore-marmalade!

They play games. The games usually consist of:

# Using their nose, ears,elbows and whatever else they can (except their hands) to pick vessels from a basket and place them on the carpet. The aunty who picks the most, gets a prize. The prize is usually one of the vessels. The winner immediately thinks about what she can cook in it the next day.

# Musical chairs:

Hi-tech host aunties beam songs from their ipods. 

The low-tech ones create music by banging spoons on plates. This scares the little babies who have complimentary passes to attend the kitty party. As a result there is more noise and more music.

This is the only time u will find lazy aunties running and trying to grab a chair.
Something brings out the child in a woman when she plays musical chairs. The winner of the game usually has her "Miss World" moment, and almost decides to write her name on the chair.

# Lemon spoon:

20 aunties race with a spoon in their mouth and a lemon on the spoon.

They run as if an Olympic medal is waiting at the other end of the living room.

Half the aunties reach the finishing line without the lemon.

Some aunties cheat and hide the lemons in their ears.

Some really brave aunties swallow the lemons -- good luck with that!

#Antakshari:

Half the aunties dont watch films.

The young aunties use this to make a statement.

In the end it becomes a case of gen 'X' versus Gen 'V also exist'.

The little girls, the daughters, take over and sing in elan.

Nice!

As the party goes on, the host doles out gifts to all the ladies.

These range from obscure shaped trinkets to butterfly shaped hair bands.

Fruits, and stuff are also exchanged.
Kids in the house are given toffees that will further spoil their teeth.
Babies in the house are given a cheek-punch, which is basically all other women pulling the babies's cheeks out of affection. Thankfully the babies dont know whats going on. More importantly, they survive the ordeal.

Most aunties keep gossiping as the games go on. Their gossip would typically revolve around:

# How their daughters got 1st place in the fancy-dress competition by dressing up like Sheela ki Jawani.

# How their servant maids never sweep the floor properly

# How the neighbouring lady got angry when they watered their plants in front of her door.

# How they recently learnt a new recipe from The Great Himalayan Continental Mexican Maple Safari Cooking Challenge on Doordarshan.

# Which tailor stitched the dress they were wearing, and what the color of his sewing machine was.

# How their daughter-in-law taught their son a lesson in cleanliness, and how their son taught their daughter-in-law to cook upma (if the daughter-in-law is also at the kitty party, then effort is made to forget about the upma)

The party stops on time if the host and guests are very punctual.

Or when the husband of the host rings the door bell and smiles as he greets woman power in the living room.

Or when the husband of one of the guests rings the door bell and makes an angry face that he doesnt have the keys to his house.