A big day was looming ahead of us on account of Chhavi's first birthday.
DD had already booked a convention hall and everything the next day Chhavi was born, since he was so excited about having a girl baby. The booking was the easiest part of all. The rest of the arrangements were causing a hassle. The cake, decor, caterers, event managers blah blah. It just took all of our days to even arrange meetings with each of these guys. Wish there was someone having a we-do-it-all package.
The cake was the last thing to be ordered / decided upon. We had lots of fights regd the design and the ingredients - the look everything. Anyways, we finally decided on a Minnie Mouse theme, but failed to get a Minnie Mouse doll for the cake. So we went with a princess theme instead. The stage was set and everything was in blue (contrary to popular choice of pink for a girl). I wanted to go for a fondue cake but the family was against it. So we settled for a fresh cream one instead.
The invites went out to 700 people and we expected 800 at the least, but I think the turnout was somewhere around - infinity !!! Just kidding, i think it must have been 1000+.
There was a magic show organized mainly to keep the kids busy and the elders entertained. It was fun. There were snack counters, giving out chaats, popcorn, cotton candy. There was a chocolate fountain, which was encircled by only kids. I doubt the adults got any of it.
Then came the cake cutting. It all got over in a jiffy and someone started distributing cake and all of a sudden, we were greeting people on stage and there was a long line of people waiting to greet chhavi.
We were up on stage for what seemed like an eternity, when chhavi started getting cranky. We could not even move from our stations. Chhavi was only becoming crankier, but the line seemed endless. Each time, we turned and saw the line - the line was always 10 people long. I dunno how people magically got generated in the line. It was never stopping :( Finally, at 11 in the night, we had the luxury of a break - the people started going home and the line finally ended.
Ah !! Now we could rest in peace. Ahem - I mean rest our legs a bit. Chhavi was now super hungry. Her last food intake was 5 hrs away, when we had left from our house. Poor thing, its a wonder she was sane until now. I would go crazy if I was hungry. Shes a boon that way. She never screams even when shes hungry. In fact the only time she is angry / frustrated is when shes super sleepy or someone takes something away from her. Otherwise, shes the coolest kid around and shes always playing on her own.
There were a lot of fights on the D-day regd the giveaway presents for the kids - the return gifts.
Most of the near and dear ones did not get any return gifts. There were probably around 300+ children and you know how kids are.... some of them just came to the stage, bullied the guy distributing the gifts and took away 2-3 each. 'Survival of the fittest' ke heights !! The silent and cool and nice kids did not get a single gift for themselves. Its our mistake also, that we did not preserve a few of them to give away to close friends and family. Maybe we should think about it the next time we distribute gifts to someone.
Finally it was time for dinner. We were so tired and hungry, but I couldnt eat a single morsel of food because all I wanted to do was go home and rest my feet. They were hurting like hell. I just pushed something into my mouth and left the hall early, because of well, myself and chhavi. We just went home and dropped dead on the bed.
Food was apparently amazing, but like they say, its difficult to enjoy the meal when you pay for it. I mean to say that when you organize a function, its so tough to sit peacefully and enjoy a meal properly.
All's well that ends well. I know that Chhavi wont remember any of this, but I just hope she reads this post and is able to imagine, how much she means to her DD. All the joy in the world showed up on his face that day. One can only imagine how happy he was.
