I just got off the phone with a school mate who confirmed what I have been telling everyone. I've become a cocktail party story. Or rather my story has!
Pretty cool na. I, for one, think so!
They say what goes around comes around, and since telling tall but truthful stories (that's not an oxymoron and completely possible) are my forte, I was bound to become a 'tall' tale someday! But again instead of getting to the point, I'm meandering. So here is my story.
My 50th birthday was on the 21st of December so husband dearest, while sitting in Paris, very enthusiastically and more than ably supported by my best friends, sisters and nieces (please to note mi'lord, girls only girls and actively so!) planned this large celebration in Delhi which included a party (obviously), a golf game, a book, a lunch .... yeah pretty much the works.
Lekin, paruntu, but, as you know, these days, man proposes and Covid disposes so when my older son and husband tested positive everything was cancelled. As if that wasn't enough, when they recovered and returned to their respective caves, I tested positive too. But wait, this is hardly a fun narration.
This is more like it: Can you imagine, this guy from Paris planned an entire celebration for his wife's 50th. They live in Paris lekin it was all supposed to be in Delhi. They had family and friends coming from everywhere...sabh-kuch booked - venue, DJ-sheeje, golf, but when they arrived, the son tested positive and went straight to the hospital. Just as it looked like he would come home, the father tested positive and he was taken to the hospital. Completely asymptomatic and he had to stay there for 10 WHOLE days. Just imagine! Crazy rules na (this is usually followed by discussion on the government rules). Sabh-kuch cancelled. But that's not all. He came back from the hospital, spent three days at home and then left for Paris with his sons. The wife stayed back in Delhi and that night she tested positive too. Unbelievable na?!!! This is the skeleton. Details or masala get added depending upon whether you share one, two or more degrees of separation with the main characters.
Actually, I don't know if the story is being portrayed quite like this but when I laughingly related this to my friend, she burst out laughing and said that she had been talking about it for the last two weeks and had narrated it to at least 15 people who in turn must have gossiped it forward and so and so forth going through friends in Paris, Mumbai, HK and everywhere else!
Family and friends discussing it isn't surprising. After all, they were a part of the journey and the love and affection that flowed was and still is overwhelming. But honestly, I'm not making up the spread. I believe we were dinner party conversation in Philadelphia where my husband's class-mate met my Masi's best friend. Last heard, both were fact checking.
The interesting part is that it goes beyond. As I type this, my friend's friend or friend's sister-in-law or brother's friend's Mamaji or some such person might be narrating it in some part of the world. And it makes me think, isn't this what connects people? Stories and experiences? Good, bad or indifferent!
Do I give myself too much credit? Naaah.... because it's not me that matters. It's the story! Believe me, I know because I'm still retelling the saga of the "chunni function" of my college friend's, cousin's, sister-in-law (it's an incredible one with number restrictions and cars as return-presents so call me for details).
*Sabh-kuch – Everything, Masi - maternal aunt, Mamaji - maternal uncle, Chunni function-one of the many events at a North-Indian wedding