Dagger Drawn by Nina Pillai

February 13, 2001

Under the Stars

A dinner dance has a quaint, pedantic, `English' boarding school ring to it but this one was hosted by the `American' School of Bombay (they are yet to make the Indianised change to Mumbai. Thank you! As me thinks ASM has a phoney ring to it, compared to the more commanding ASB).

Originally to be held on the lawns of The American Consulate, hence the title `Under the Stars', a last-minute shift to the Regal Room didn't seem to dent the `jolly' enthusiasm of ASB parents, staff and friends, on Saturday night. Having consulted with other ASB parents on a regular basis, Lena Ashar and Ayesha Shroff, who was in my round-the-clock meetings, a simple fun evening was beginning to take on the nuances of Astro Socialising, as the stars seemed crossed in that quest to merely communicate was assuming tones of `will I? won't I' know anyone on my table. Having taken the bold decision to make the entrance alone, it was galling to have to put on my reading glasses to locate my table and having to go through the acute embarrassment of preening and peeping and then studiously studying the table plan to still not find my name!

Finally, when I was about to give up, a kind soul said `Hi Nina! I think you are on table sixteen'. Voila! Not only was there a table with my name to it, but it was certainly stars night out as on our table were Ayesha and Jackie Shroff, Mana and Sunil Shetty, Lena and Ritin Asher and Ann and John Triden -- I felt I had lucked out. I believe our table was the cause of reasonable envy as one of the mothers actually came and told Ann so. Awash with relief at not having been abandoned, I gleefully got into the spirited mood of the evening.

Ayesha looked breathtakingly youthful, with her long Rapunzel locks she seems to have shed the intervening twenty years we've have known each other. Jackie and I go back a long way, when he met Ayesha it was a dead ringer that he cradle-snatched. Sunil Shetty played the daring sport of 50/50 in a game of chance, Heads or Tails, where your hands were meant to be at each extremity. Sunil playfully placed Mana as an active ASB mom, as is Ayesha in that they are on the PTA and take a keen interest in the school and its varied robust life. Lena and I as working moms are a bit more reticent in our school run, and after-school participation, and are grateful as Lena put it to be spared the extra effort, juggling our lives the way we do.

I certainly know for a fact that better time-management would bring me on par with the most dedicated mom, but I never seem to have enough time in twenty-four hours to be a `great' anything. Back to the fun of the evening we ate, drank, played games, raffled and danced the night away. The Counsel General of USA, Mr David Good, with his lovely wife Ila, set the tone fo the evening with a brief speech and an apology for not being `Under the Stars' at the Consulate.

It was wonderful in the Regal Room and stars we had aplenty. The school has a dedicated and true staff and Mr Mains -- looking `oh! so Indian' in a bottle green kurta pyjama -- is the mainstay of the school. Mr Bradley the Headmaster, Mrs Shirley Collins the Junior school headmistress, Miss Joan Goodson my little Shiva's saviour, all make up a spirited teaching team that motivate and inspire.

Sarah O' Keefe had planned this evening of fun and frolic. Dancing with Joan, Lena, Ayesha and Ann, I felt a heartfelt gratitude to her and all the staff-parent input that lifted the evening from the ordinary to the realm of perfect.

When Ayesha won a holiday to Cochin, my home state, from a raffle ticket that Ritin had kindly bought for everyone on our table, it added that touch that only Lady Luck can bring in cheer, a harbinger I hope for better things to come for all, but most of all to Ayesha and Jackie who have the release of Grahan next week. Having seen the film in its incubatory phase, it has a bold theme, is sensitively handled and I wish for it a great success akin to our evening `Under the Stars'.