Sakhi Sangam 2009

A couple of months ago, I sent out an email to my girlies, asking them to block out August 2 in their diaries.

At that stage, I had no idea what I was heading into. I knew, from my basic knowledge of Hindi that Sakhi meant girlfriend and Sangam meant unity – so I worked out a Sakhi Sangam would have to mean a get-together of girlfriends. This is the information I passed on to the ladies on my elite list. Most just emailed back with a whole list of questions, what’s it for? What do we wear? Will there be food? Who is coming? Where is it? I got exasperated and said, “look, I don’t know. But let’s just go and find out!” eventually I was able to answer most questions on a factional level. Venue: The croatian club, Time: 11 am and Theme: Dress up like your favourite Bollywood Actress (or actor). our tastebuds indulged in the culinary fanfare that was laid out in front of us; our eyes feasted on the magic that the dancers put on display. on many an occasion all we could do was look at each other and say, “Wow!” lunch was a feast of our favourites from Indian banquets.

August 2, I looked out to confirm that it was a pristine day outside with the winter sun at its brightest. Wonderful! The day was going well already (and I was still in bed)! Step 2: What to wear... Bollywood glamour in the day time? That required a lot of planning. So after wearing and discarding three saris I was finally ready. Ready to arrive at the croatian club fashionably late! The car park was packed: how many people are at this?! Every now and again we saw a swish of brilliant colours from a sari pallu, and heard the mystical tinkering of a girlish giggle.

And then I realised - I lost my tickets! Not just my ticket, but everyone else’s! Girlies were not impressed (disgruntled, in fact). Thankfully, after a small confirmation of our names we were allowed to enter - in fact we even got a present each, just for being late and forgetting our tickets! Each of the “Sakhis” were gifted a beautiful ceramic oil burner. And a bingo ticket! We walked into the party room - only to stop and gawk at the number of women there. everyone was bejewelled in their sparkling gems, sashaying in their latest Bollywood style sarees, lehengas, salwars. I looked at my entourage and watched as their faces broke into happy smiles - I had done well.

Just as we got to our tables Manjit’s Men arrived with our drinks and entrees. papri chaat and kaju cutlets, yummm... a great chaat and good chat are all a girl really needs! And with no men to give us looks of horror as we stuffed our faces - we really did stuff our faces! And the waistline? Well we could always dance it off after!

I wiggled my way around the women for a quick word with the two amazing ladies behind the whole event, Nandini Thadani and Sushma Ahluwalia. “This is our 11th year but it feels like only yesterday when we were just a few women having a good time together.” An event of such magnitude could not have been possible without the unwavering patience and attention by the organising committee. lots of prizes and many squeals later we decided to engage in every girls favourite pastime - shopping, of course. The Meena Bazaar was on in full swing, selling glittering, sparkling jewelleryand my favourite, bangles! There were bangles galore. After a significant hit to the bank account - and swearing each other to privacy - we decided it was time to head off.

After lunch we settled down to play some serious bingo followed by the raffle prizes, our table had 2 winners!

When DJ Dimple took the microphone, we were all ready to hit the floor…and hit it hard. With 600 women on the dance floor, the atmosphere was buzzing. Every lady danced without inhibition. Girls hanging out being girls for girls with girls! Some girls notwithstanding the heat of the dance floor made their own stage at one corner of the room. There was dance and masti everywhere! There was a smile on every face, a sparkle on every bindi! ladies danced on while some went away for more food.

The day was fun, relaxing and filled with giggles. Next time, we are taking our mums along - perhaps mine will then buy the bangles for me!

Finally, I will ask you to imagine a huge

By Raka Mitra

Sydney Institute of ERP

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Midway through last year, in what seemed a great idea at the time, i decided on total replacement of my right knee, and my skilled surgeon at “the San” at wahroonga, did his job. i woke up, high on morphine, and feeling so well that my dear wife told everyone that i’d be home any day. when the morphine wore off and they discovered i am allergic to it, i came back to the reality of pain and oh boy, was there pain!!

Fortunately, into my life came a young man