The Tulleeho Picnic

It all started with a case of Corona and Heineken each...

The question was how to consume it (well not too difficult I say!) in a pleasurable way, and what better way than a picnic with an al fresco setting! And thus some industrious employees of our company came to the conclusion of a “tulleeho day out”….

And the buzz was on : for 2 days, we had about 7 round table conferences….inside office and in our park-view smoking gallery!

The arrangement of venue was put on me, the menu (food and beverages) was taken care of by Aneesh ( pssst..one of the above-mentioned industrious employees) . We made the list of people and confirmed their availability in less than 5 minutes (strange thing…as the same people buy time for any confirmation regarding serious office work…which is rarely)

Gopiji (Our office chef/ events supervisor/ garnish coordinator/SPG (smiling person greeter in TGIF terminology!)) was on hand so the food equipment was not a worry (Although me and Aneesh had the brilliant idea of cooking ourselves, which was shelved without any further discussions!)

Now, the other part was entertainment…and therefore our programmer/Mr FTP –Shouvik, and our Accountant /travel agent/ ATM machine Rakesh, went off to Munirka, to purchase Cricket accessories.....and yes, music “THE” biggest concern of Aneesh, was finally resolved by Mr Yangdup Lama, ( celeb bartender, he likes to call himself), who promised us his precious Sony will accompany us….and the CDs and tapes were of course, the only creative contribution our CEO was specified…well he was out of station, when everything was schemed. In fact he was the last one to know about the ‘trip”!

Day of the trip:

We left office at quarter past 10….and reached our destination at 12.30! Ask CEO why and he will give you some gyan on the importance of pre planning, xl sheets, and maps!

Well, I did not take directions in advance…..and therefore we ended up spending an extra thirsty hour on the road…ask our London based greek flair bartender Illi, and he will give you a graphic description of the trucks on the road, and how they were all out to kill him! In fact he compared it to Lebanon, where the civil war is on! (which I felt was a bit unfair, since civilians are well protected there!)

We pitched, set up the bar, and started our game in 10 minutes flat! I was amazed at the tempo at which everyone got to their own business. Broadly categorized as:

1-The workers (Ashutosh, Gopiji, Nischal, Lama, Sanjay)

2-The players (Rakesh, Shouvik, Suprio, Pranav)

3-The Drinkers ( Vikram , a.k.a. CEO, Minakshi)

4-The Flair bartender (Illias)

After numerous games of cricket, badminton, and TT ( on a wooden table) and countless Coronas, Heinekens, Fosters, Spanish rose wine, ( lots of it was saved because Aneesh joined us late!), momos ( courtesy celeb bartender) it was time for Lunch…and yes by consensus it was by far the best Biryani we all had ever had! Long live Gopiji.

Post which we also added some sparkle to the occasion with a Formula One style opening of the sparkling wine..and another game of cricket…alas, which my team lost after winning the toss , batting first and frauding 3 runs! (Our team secret). In fact we ( Suprio gave some dada tips) tutored Illi on cricket quite successfully, though I bet he still can’t tell where to throw the ball when he has fielded it!


Post a photo session, chai and some interesting dance with the dogs ( Shouvik) we were ready to head back…though am sure, most of us were wondering how the day passed so soon! Infact quoting Illi, “it was the best day in his life”! ( naah…best day in India, so far…considering he has only been here 3 days..)

To sum it up, it did turn out to be a memorable day for all of us, not because most of the ‘players’ have body ache, but because it was a well spent day and very close to our brand essence…. That is, Tulleeho!

Minakshi