Contest Time, Friends - Dinner for Americans!

We have been living in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Savannah</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region></st1:place> for a while now and have a wide circle of friends, both Indian and American. We regularly entertain guests at home for a meal and on occasions have big dinners too. Off late we have been to a few thematic dinners and that gave me the idea of having one myself. So what better way to start than having a totally Indian theme – it would be nostalgic to the few Indian friends, who would be a must call, and a novel experience for our American friends and colleagues.

I was born and brought up in Chennai, but have been living in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> for the past fifteen years. I periodically visit <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> as most American Indians do, but to believe that I am totally updated with the latest Indian thinking and way of doing things will be pushing it too far. I guess all of us must accept that we do tend to freeze at the point of time when we left <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and the rest are all updations to our top of the mind recall.

With all that in mind, I decided to get updated on all the latest in Chennai through the internet and through friends who live at Chennai as well. I believe in detailed planning of any event before, starting on the preparations. This meant that I decide on the various aspects first – the main ones being, the guest list, the menu, the entertainment and the decoration.

The guest list was basically a few of our very close Indian friends, but mainly a lot of my husbands’ and my colleagues at work. They always ask us about Indian ways and this was the best way to show them Indian hospitality. The guests would total about fifty, including kids. I tried to limit it to this figure because I wanted to get as many of them to sit cross legged for the meal, which meant the dinner had to be at our basement, which has a walk way, into the garden, for those who would like to stand around and eat, because they were unable to sit down.

Once I pinned down myself to this idea, I had a friend who was visiting Chennai, bring me a dozen more of the plantain leaf shaped ceramic plates that I already had brought over in two installments. These plates always appealed to me as a great substitute for the banana leaf itself. I had a lot of ever silver(as stainless steel is referred to) tumblers and cups brought in over the years. I had a few “pattamadai pai” (straw mats) basically used as decorative mats in various parts of the house, which would serve as sit down mats on this occasion. Others had to do with Indian bed sheets, neatly folded. The serving vessels would all be copper bottomed vessels, which my mother had bought from the time I turned 18, as is done in most South Indian families( without giving thought to the fact that I could be married off to an Indian American boy).These would finally come in real handy now.

Some of the brass utensils and ladles that belonged to my grandmothers are already on display on the landing of our staircase where there is a small niche. I would have to brief my husband and daughters on the use of each of these. The plastic mango leaves and flower decorations available at <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Mada Street</st1:address></st1:Street> in Mylapore would adorn my entrance door and the small puja that I have. The Thanjavur painting of Lord Vinayaka would be placed in our drawing room under focus lights for the evening, to bring out both the rich tradition of Thanjavur art as well as our religious flavor. All my traditional brass lamps ( recently gold plated at Chennai) would be placed at strategic places throughout the house. There would be one placed at my Thulasi maadam which I have zealously grown with care, at my backyard with a small thulasi <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">amman</st1:City></st1:place> ,which I would have to polish. I would have to put small kolams at my entrance, the puja and the thulasi maadam. I would get my silver kumkum and chandanam cups set in a tray, out of my locker, polish them and fill them, along with my panneer (rosewater) sprinkler ready. Of course there would be mild wafts of sandal and rose smell from agarbathis in various corners. I would have fresh flowers decoratively arranged in my big ‘uruli’(varpu) in our lobby, in the midst of a kolam. I would have to get the small lucky vinayakars put in small jute surukku pai(bags) with haldi & kumkum packs and betel nut packets from Chennai as takeaway gifts.

As far as entertainment was concerned, I would have carnatic music – both instrumental and vocal playing softly in the background until a small demonstration of a carnatic piece of vocal music by my elder daughter after all the guests arrived, and a small bharathnatyam piece by my friends’ daughter. Another friend’s son plays the ghatam and I am keen to get him demonstrate that too – that would really capture the imagination of all the American guests. I plan to bring out ‘pallankuzhi’, the carom board and ludo( modern dhayam) to show as the traditional Indian indoor games.

The main part of course is the menu. The bottom line would be that all dishes would have to be mildly spicy, so that I do not have any emergencies!! I would have two counters to demonstrate the making of small sweet banana dosas and kuzhi paniyaram as starters and a sweet counter demonstrating the making of jilebis. Both will be manned by my two best friends. The menu other than these would include tomato rasam as soup, bisebela, coconut rice, cucumber raita, raw banana sliced curry, avial, papad, semia bahalabath pickle and akkaravadisal. I would get my family and a few other Indian kids to serve as people sit down. I expect that the guests will start enthusiastically sitting down but, slowly carrying their plates out. I will be demonstrating the traditional way of serving the items in the right places on the plate. I really miss not having beeda to round off the dinner beautifully.

As far as our attire is concerned, I would definitely have my husband wear his silk jibba( kurta) with zari veshti, I will be in a kanjeevaram silk sari ,my elder daughter will be in a half sari( dhavani) and my younger daughter in a pavadai , showcasing a wide variety of our traditional clothes – I expect to have a lot of explaining and maybe demonstrating of how to wear a sari and a half sari , to do.
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<o:p>I expect that my best friends’ husband, would video tape the whole evening to
</o:p><o:p>treasure the memory. The excitement is really high and I am waiting to tell you
all how the evening went off! </o:p>

Hi Saradha,

Congratulations on winning the Dinner contest.

I got to read your entry and it was awesome! Hosting dinner for 50 guests, not an easy deal. But you seem to have planned & organized it well.

Great one!

Nila.

Hearty congratulations for the winning in dinner contest.
The wood flower vase looks so beautiful.
Read your entry ,it was great,looks need lots of planning and organizing with patient.Like Nila rightly said hosting dinner for 50 people is not an easy deal.
Once again congrats.

Dear Saradha,

First off, congratulations on winning the contest! I am rather ashamed to say that I did not participate in the same, but I do not have a whole lot of American friends who visit home!

I loved the idea of ceramic elai(leaf) plates, the banana dosas(reminding them of crepe maybe!), sitting down to eat, explaining how to drape half-saree etc!!

You seem like a very good party-planner, so expect a lot of queries from all of us:)

Congrats again!!!

Dear Saradha,

Congratulations. A great party plan indeed. I too have a lot of questions for you , mainly to do with shopping and ofcourse the goldplating of your lamps.

Will PM you soon.

Vandhana

Please accept my congratulations on winning the contest.

You bear my mother's name; she was a great cook and a greater planner for any get together, however small it be. So, that makes me doubly happy !

Love,
Chithra.

Dear IL ites,

Please watch this thread for the entries from all the contestants. There some nice ideas there.

Vandhana

I am posting this on her behalf:

DEEPAV’S ENTRY:
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Hello Everybody
I have a very small thought that came into my mind when I saw the contest.
I have just put forth all my thoughts points .So here it goes—
1- First of all when I think of inviting my American friends to my place , I would send out an invitation. I would name the invitation "Millan Samellan"- Nava varsh arambham (Welcome New Year )
2- Entrance of the home would be glittered with diyas and serial lights
3- The dinning and the living room would be decorated with diyas and also saree
4- Traditional Sarees would be arraneged in such a way that our friends could appreciate the kind of labour and also the signaficane of it
5- The host would also be wearing traditional clothes for the entire evening
6- Traditional shanai music or south Indian music would be played at the background
7- The guest would welcomed with "jal jeera" and "panagam" drink instead of cola
8- The startes would be traditional "gujrathi style" with pokoda's and green and red chutney
9- The seating arrangements in the living room would be on the floor and will be placed in a circle manner with round pillows around
10- Food would be prepared in both south Indian as well as north Indian fashion
11- The dinning area must be in a buffet manner ,differentiating the style of Indian cooking
12- Recipe card should be prepared and must be placed before every dish which explains the ingredents used
13- All the dished should be plated in traditional vessels , with copper bottom
14- Instead of paper plates and throw away glass , steel plates and steel glasses should be served
15- After dinner desert would be served ,which would include "basundhi and some Bengali sweet ( chum chum) in a small silver bowl
16- After sometime PAN BIDA would be served , explaining the importance of it to our friends
17- Then after that I would be applying MEHINDI to all the female friends before they leave our place
18- Before they leaving I would present all my friends with a thankyou card in our Indian Language along with their name written in Indian language.
Hope you enjoyed the thoughts that I mentioned when I would be doing when I invite my American friends at home
Hope you liked the idea
Deepa
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Dear Saradha,

Please accept my Congratulations on winning the contest.
Your arrangement and planning of the party sounds very extravagant indeed and I would like to be an invitee to your party...especially for the hot hot fresh jalebis and to hear your daughter sing:)

Greetings,
Kamla