Party principle

If you are the sort of person who gets invited to only two parties a year and I am then both will be on the same day. And that day will, more often than not, be January I, so that for the rest of the year you will be dining alone.

If you are the sort of person who gets invited to only two parties a year and I am then both will be on the same day. And that day will, more often than not, be January I, so that for the rest of the year you will be dining alone.

The two parties will be at the opposite ends of town 8212; one in Bandra and one at Cuffe Parade 8212; and the traffic on the day will be much worse than usual so that you are late for both. The host at the first party will come late actually he had another party to attend and the host at the second party will leave early actually he has another party to attend. Both your parties are ruined consequently.

And if there are two parties to attend and after much deliberation you decide to attend the party of friend A because not only is he a closer friend but also because the party is nearer home, your wife will insist on going for the party in the suburbs, not only because she likes your suburban friend more but he8217;s got such lovely children the relevance of which will escape you completely. But you agree, and are caught in an unbelievable traffic snafu. When you suggest that you may want to change course and go to the party in town, your wife reasonably says that that cannot be done as she has written the name of your suburban friend on the gift and, anyway, your town friend will not appreciate a bottle of chilled chilean chilly wine, as he is a teetotaller.

And maybe it is on one of those years when the two parties in the year you get invited to are in Delhi and that too in winter. And they will be exactly three days apart. So not only will you have to buy air tickets to and fro but will have to pay for accommodation or fly back to Bombay just to fly back two days later to Delhi. In any case, flying to Delhi in winter is generally an unwise idea, given the fog. But, of course, the advantage of going to a Delhi party twice in a week is that you are so exhausted at the end of them that you are actually thankful that you are not invited to a party for a year or two.