- Many ‘party planners’ etc. should not be permitted to plan a toddlers Disney themed birthday party, let alone a multi-million value event
In the 21st century we are given so many avenues of self-awareness and knowledge, so many areas for research, self-analysis, and improvement, that we really have no excuses to be floundering, sputtering, and fluttering in the in attempt to ‘find ourselves’. Cute this may be at the certain age, when self-discovery is still in process, and one is far from mature enough to “know better”. It is when we all are of a certain vintage, a certain era of life, and are still in the bracket of ‘finding one’s path in life’ that things become slightly worrisome.
01
The internet is ‘old hat’ at this point and social media too has become where even Grandparents are ‘on the gram’ aware of what is happening in the world. News travels faster than the speed of light, and gossip it seems, travels even faster! Unlike in the dark ages when I was discovering these outlets, now anyone from a toddler upwards seems to be tech-savvy and globally aware. So, in this climate, what makes some so very delusional and unaware of the basic parameters of life? I personally am befuddled by this very question, and here is an attempt at actually “trying to understand” this riddle.
I have said repeatedly for all to hear, that am not, never have been, and absolutely never will be ‘ageist’. I am 53 years old myself, and absolutely thrilled that each year am blessed with is an additional spin around the sun, that gives me more time with those I love and also to enjoy the simple things that bring me immense joy. Saying this, I was at a recent event (yes shockingly I actually left the monastic life I lead at home and ventured out socially!), where it became painfully obvious that either societies levels of ‘confidence’ had sky-rocketed, or their sense of delusion had done so, in unison with their plummeting levels of awareness. Let me elaborate.
The ‘Birthday Girl’ who had left her Girlhood in the times of the biblical ‘old testament’ was dressed to attend a ‘Girl’s night out in Vegas or Los Angeles’ (with emphasis on the demographic of ‘Girls’), replete with tacky stretch limo rides (only acceptable for high school proms!), and cringe worthy stripper shoes (again, meant for strippers who are immensely talented in wearing said shoes). Unfortunately, the hostess was not a stripper, nor a high school prom attendee but a wonderfully educated woman of a certain age, who definitely should have known better, or listened to someone who had a sense of reason.
02
The horror show continued throughout the evening (for at least the short time I was there), and must have continued into the wee hours. From everyone taking turns posing near a terrifying balloon arch, to groups raising their glasses of bubbly in synchronized photo-op horror, I knew it was time to quietly slip away to the cocoon that is my cozy home and my Doggies. I was actually pondering more on the so called “professionals” who come together to create these events, than the actual ‘Birthday Girl’, who maybe did not have anyone telling her to get a ‘reality check’?
We now have plenty of ‘party planners’ slews of ‘event organizers’, herds of ‘experts’ in every imaginable field. So, what is actually going wrong and making one want to hide under the covers in sheer terror when seeing these soirees? Many ‘party planners’ etc. should not be permitted to plan a toddlers Disney themed birthday party, let alone a multi-million value event. From a complete lack of understanding for the ‘time and place’ ethos, to basically being copycats of what they see on the gram or in the glossies, these ‘event DIS-organizers’ thrive on making things into a Hodge podge reminiscent of a mix between a ‘Harry Potter’, and the movie ‘Mad Max fury road!’ Next comes the décor to match the delusional Damsel’s clothes, which also needs to match the carpets, the drapes, the guest’s clothes, and the food.
03
Cute, once again, if this were for a toddler. I do not know anyone (but than my circle of friends and acquaintances is miniscule!), who wants to be told ‘what to wear’ to an event. What and where is this? Chairman Mao’s China where individuality is a sign of dissidence? The ‘beauticians’ and ‘aesthetic experts’, whom I personally would not trust to groom one of my doggies, then opines on the ‘look’ of the patron, and her usually helpless immediate family. As they get painted to look like medieval lasses, after a lecherous romp in the Hay, with cascading locks and lashes that cause wind-shear miles away, the party prep is well on its way (to becoming a pantomime worthy of an amateur production in a tiny outback village). Next comes the ‘curating’ of the menu, by those ‘professionals’ who have not curated a packet of rice and curry! They thrive of mixing and matching, usually throwing in horrendously over-priced ingredients, that makes the deluded hostess imagine she is Madame Du Barry traversing the halls of Versailles. Let me be a bit more relatable to the local social scene - where the deluded hostess imagines she is one of the ‘Celestial Apsaras’ hosting a meal for her lord King Kashyapa and his cohort, atop the Sigiriya monolith!
04
The poor patron, who is at the receiving end of this ‘show’, usually listens to the ‘professionals’ spewing fables worthy of Aesop, and just writes the ‘many zeros’ included checks! Great for the benefactors of said funds, who laugh all the way to the bank, at the expense of the clueless. Now saying all this, let me also add that there are many wonderfully well planned and beautifully done events (usually a more intimate setting for smaller numbers, and not including the above mentioned “bells and whistles”). It could be an understanding of the times we live in, or an acute self-awareness where one does not look at every party as a chance to flex one’s wallets. It could be that one has ‘been there and done that” so one is content to just be, and let be. Either way, to each their own, and as long as one is enjoying the process and not stressing out to point of needing a strait jacket and a padded room post party – have fun and party on!
