Saturday, December 15, 2007

Spreading the Christmas chair

It was one of those office Christmas parties where all I wanted to do was wear my new boots with my glittery dress. Though the Christmas committee had been publicising the lucky draw prizes for weeks now and there was a general buzz about them, I wasn't too bothered. I have been generally lucky with lucky draw stuff since I was a kid, so I thought I should win something at least.

The committee had also been publicising the theme of the party for weeks, which for some weird reason was 'glitter'. I thought it was an extremely discriminatory theme. Firstly, how the heck are guys supposed to glitter up? Secondly, who the heck wants to look at glittered-up guys? One of my colleagues in a desperate attempt to find some ideas on how guys can glitter up, googled for a phrase involving "guys" and "glitter", and let's just say the results were such that I can't disclose them here - after all, this is a family bar.

Anyway, as we settled down in the Esplanade Room in the Carlton hotel amidst the glitterati (quite literally), there were speeches and wine and food at the party, but no one was really interested. Everyone was just waiting for the lucky draw. They started announcing the lucky draw prizes with the lowest value first, and threw in a game once in a while. I was totally rooting for our table to win the 'Identify the carol and sing it' game, because it seemed to be intellectually the most stimulating one. They were showing the clues on the screen and the table that could crack the most codes and sing the most carols would win. However, I completely forgot that though I am good at cracking clues, I am hopeless at carol lyrics. Bollywood lyrics I know, but carol lyrics? Ahem. So the high point for me was when I cracked the most difficult clue, and my colleague seated next to me actually knew the lyrics. (The clue was 'ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRST' and the answer was Noelle. No 'ell', geddit??).

Then they started calling out the top ten lucky draw prizes. I knew that my name had been evading the hand of the 'picker' because I was meant for greater things that 200-dollar vouchers. But by the time they got to the top three prizes and hadn't called my name, I started to worry a bit. They called out the top three prizes by extension number. So when it was time for the first prize, and they called out "Extension number 8...2...5..." I turned to my colleague and said, "Dammit."

"What's yours?" She asked.

"Umm... 8242." I answered.

Before disclosing the last digit, they asked all the people whose extension numbers started with 825 to stand up so that there would be some suspense in the room, and also each candidate could look at the competitors. The rest of all just looked at all the standing parties and said "Damn you, people."

And then they called out the last digit.

"It's 2!!"

Suddenly everyone looked confused. None of the people standing were doing the victory dance. The announcer then went on to announce the name.

"And tonight's grand prize winner is... SAYESHA!"

HUH?

I looked around. Everyone was either giving me confused or dirty or murderous looks.

"My extension is 8252?" I wondered.

"Sayesha, could you come up here and collect your grand prize?"

Still in a state of daze, I said, "Uhhh... okay!" Obviously at that point in time, it was pointless to do the Miss World "Oooh I won I won" hands on the cheeks and round eyes expression.

(I really got a big round of scolding from everyone later. You win the grand prize and all we get is a "Uhhh... okay!"??)

So I went to the stage, collected my grand prize, and sensing that people were still wondering why I hadn't stood up when they announced the first three digits, decided to come clean.

I took the microphone and addressed the room.

"I'm sorry. I never call myself. That's why I didn't know my extension number."

At least some of the hurts looks changed to forgiving ones, while others still couldn't believe I had just won a OTO Master Relax music-sync massage chair worth $1880. Well, I couldn't either. But I had I had! Yeay! People play musical chairs at parties, I had won myself a musical chair!

The reactions of the people were quite varied and interesting.

"Sayesha, e-bay it! You can get at least two thousand dollars for it!"

"Sayesha, no don't sell it! Keep it! It's a great prize!"

"Ship it to your parents in India!" (Not a bad idea, just that the shipping charges may marginally exceed the cost of the chair which I never paid for.)

"Sayesha, bring it to office and substitute your regular chair with it!"

"Sayesha, my office has a lot of extra space... ahem." That was my boss. So I told her, "This is unbelievable! Everyone is eyeing your chair, and you are eyeing my chair??"

But the best one came from my friend BH who suggested that I take it to the office and keep it in the pantry, install a coin system, and let people use it when they want. At the end of every week, I collect my earnings. Sounds fab to me.

Now that's what I call 'spreading the Christmas chair"! ;)


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28 comments:

Neihal said...

hahaha.

I like BH's idea too.

Congrats girl.

How come I never win any of those lucky draws. hmph!!

:))

Neihal said...

I might be unlucky with the lucky draws....but here I win the GOLLLLD... without a doubt.

:D :D :D

Unknown said...

SILVER!!!!

He he......it feels good when we win something unexpectedly...congrats! :)

satish said...

bronze!

bhai! agar woh prize aapko nahi milti toh chhin ke le aate apan.

congos! :D

Adorable Pancreas said...

Pewter?

The only thing I've won is a 1 rupee discount on Pril dishwash bar. My life sucks. :(

The Mad Girl said...

that's cool!! I have never won anything in any lucky draw contest ever.
hey, I was reading your older posts and I came across this post on couples-Vishal Bharadwaj nd Rekha Bharadwaj.I reckon you haven't heard much by Rekha...so I'm pasting this link here- the link of a beautiful sufi number by her. Do listen to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv2eVrG9srk

PizzaDude said...

Oh my God! WOW! Congrats!!

PS: When can I come home ? :D

Bivas said...

Well well well...somebody's having a Merry christmas already :D...Congrats!!! That chair looks awesome...

\\I'm sorry. I never call myself. That's why I didn't know my extension number.
Smart thinking...warna u were toast for sure ;-)

starbreez said...

Oh, congratulations!!! Something to soothe your teleconferenced muscles with -- too bad it wasn't $2,000 shoe voucher! Hee hee hee!

Siddhu said...

Dammit, you lucky lucky girl.

Congratulations!!

P.S.: I hate you! :D

*green*

mythalez said...

lol .. congos ... loved the title and ur 'acceptance speech' :P

Anusha said...

Oh, man! That's an AWESOME grand prize - congratulations! :D Are you really going to go ahead with BH's plan? ;)

Amey said...

You could have used the blog to give your acceptance speech, using the chair for world peace (ok, your own relaxation) and whatnot...

I envy you. Although I am quite lucky when it comes to multiple choice questions and suchlike, I am always 1001st person in a "draw" with 1000 prizes.

Sanchit said...

damn u are so so so lucky.. i want to gift one of these to my parents.. but sadly meri savings ki aukad ke bahar hain.. sob sob.. sighs.. this is one \helluva heaven on earth, this chair.. argh.. am so jealous... :P

dharmu said...

congrats bhai!!!!
you to totally lucky, full lucky!!!

i guess the last idea sounds really great!!!
er, btw, could you plz rub some luck on me too??? thodasa???

Sayesha said...

#Neihal,
Thanks thanks! Time time ki baat hai yaar. Tumhara time bhi aayega! :P

#Sanket,
Thanks! :D

#Satish,
Thank you thank you! :D

//bhai! agar woh prize aapko nahi milti toh chhin ke le aate apan.

Ah, apun ka wafadar Circuit! :D

#Adorable Pancreas,
LOL @ 1-rupee discount! :P Don't worry, your time will come soon too! :)

#The Mad Girl,
Oh wow! I love the song! Gotta get the MP3! :D

#Pizzadude,
Hehehe! Haven't picked it up from the showroom yet. Hopefully when you come over for the new year's party, it will be there! :)

#Bivas,
Thanks! :D

#Starbreez,
Thanks! Yeah I should take it to office for the weird-hour Boston teleconferences eh? :D

//too bad it wasn't $2,000 shoe voucher! Hee hee hee!

Oh boy! I'd be overwhelmed! :O

#Siddhu,
Thanks!

//P.S.: I hate you! :D

I love you too, bro! >:D<

#Mythalez,
Hehe... thanks! Too bad not all the people at the party got the joke in my 'acceptance speech'. Some continued to stare at me in disapproval. :/

#Clueless,
Hehehe! I think I'll just keep it man! :P

#Amey,
Haha! Sure sure! :)

#Sanchit,
Don't be jealous yaar! Like I said - time time ki baat hai. :)

#Dharmu,
Thanks, Harley Dada! :D

//er, btw, could you plz rub some luck on me too??? thodasa???

Okay here goes! :D
Main dardi rub rub kardi
re main dardi rub rub! :D

Bivas said...


Main dardi rub rub kardi
re main dardi rub rub! :D

On behalf of all Bewdas n Bewdis here...Brilliant!!! :D
what exactly did u hv for dinner? ;-)

Unknown said...

omg sash...what an AMAzing prize...congraaaats!!! Too bad am not there to give it a try....but it's good, else I wouldn't have gotten off it....haha..

sash u r soo lucky! wow. I am still not over it...:-))

sd said...

Great acceptance speech! hehe! Sahi hain bhai.... enjoy:)

Shekhar said...

Sahi hai... CONGO !! :))) The chair reminded me of 'Rosita' from FRIENDS.. remember the lazy-boy chair that Joey and Chandler have? ~grins~

The darn thing costs 20,000 bucks here..

Angelsera said...

Congrats!!
so when can we come over to sit on your new chair :D

Vaijayanta Chattoraj said...

Congrats Sayesha !!!

As soon as I read the first paragraph, I understood that Sayesha must have won a lucky draw and after reading the wholw post, I understood that I was so correct in my assumption.

I wish you are always lucky like this.

V said...

Some people have all the luck...the closest I came to winning anything was a humble landline phone.


btw in case u havent noticed, the blog header's been reduced and your head's been lopped off :-O


V

Sayesha said...

#Bivas,
Hehehe! :P :P :P

#Harshi,
Thanks! :D

#SD,
Hehe... thanks! :P

#Shekhar,
Thanks! Yeah I remember Rosita - she died! :O

//The darn thing costs 20,000 bucks here..

Nahin re... a friend of mine was planning to buy the same thing - she said 60,000 rupees ka hai. :O

#Angelsera,
Hahaha! I remember - the chaat party is still due! :P

#Vaijayanta,
Thanks! :)

#V,
Tera bhi waqt aayega mamu! :D

//btw in case u havent noticed, the blog header's been reduced and your head's been lopped off :-O

I noticed re... and lost my head - literally and otherwise! :/ Waiting for the IT helpdesk aka Viv to find time to fix it! :)

Stone said...

Congratulations!!

Jaya said...

A cool chair for a prize. COngratulations. May be you should listen to all Javed Akhtar's songs/poems sitting in that...

soleil said...

Oh! One more luxury in my Indian home! :p Congrats and happy relaxing in the chair!

Swathy said...

Hi,
we dont know each other but I was just randomly browsing thru blogs..
and bingo!!
found urs!!
amazing..
so much to read.. could not resist going from one write up to other..
Was amazed to know u loved the movie "Socha na tha" which s one of all time favourites..
In short..WOW!!
u are an awesome writer!!-
'A stranger s words!!:)'