What happened inside J.W. Mariott? The Play Date with Dove
The worst part of growing up is that, you don’t get to play
around anymore. But, I think Dove has that superpower to listen to a woman’s
soul and so they did arrange for a grand Play Date with them inviting many
bloggers and others at J.W. Mariott in Mumbai. Yes, I was also amongst the
lucky ones.
Sometime ago, I received in my inbox, an invite to join an
event — Play Date with Dove. I thought it was just another PR invite and at
first, thought not to bother to reply. Then, having known Reshma well, as a
courtesy, I informed since I am based in Kolkata, I cannot go.
THEN CAME THE SHOCK!!! I was being informed that Dove would
arrange everything including flight, accommodation, commutation! I thought ‘
Are you kidding me?’
At first, I wasn’t
sure if I could go because my M.Phil exams are very close and I was supposed to
speak in a seminar. However, I could not let the opportunity go.
Dove had taken care of everything. But since, I had my
arrangements, I stayed on my own. On 11th May, I was so excited! In
fact, I was so excited that I could not sleep the night before! ( Come dark
circles, I am armed with makeup!)
 |
| Me, all dressed up!! But the wind played truant on my hair |
On reaching JW Mariott, I was greeted by the very friendly
PR person Reshma, who I prefer calling a
friend. I registered myself and got a
badge with my name on it! I felt like a kid finding my own badge in the
cluster! See the badges,
There was a selfie booth and a photo booth and I had my moment of
stardom there.
There were lots of yummy deserts to which I gravitated involuntarily! Beat me!
Then, I learnt, there were to be several games since it’s a
play date and I was on team 9. There was Stuti from Globe Trotter, Dolon from
Pout Pretty (she is a sweetheart), Ekta, Aminah, Fatimah, Magali from Blue
Skies, Calm Seas and Me and her mum, and two other girls and of course myself!
 |
| Dove Play Date Team 9 |
After a briefing session, we were still kind of frozen… you
know… anticipating what’s to come up and still trying to be comfortable with
everyone.
 |
| Can you locate me? Should I say the red bag is the hint? :D |
Then came up a Zumba!!
 |
| Our Zumba instructors |
My God! I rarely dance since I am horrible at it. But in the Zumba round we all went crazy! The funny moves and later, Gangnam Style was way
too funny! Imagine, lots of beautiful ladies in dresses carrying themselves regally and then breaking
into shimmy shaking and crazy dance moves!
The zumba warmed up every one and we all introduced
ourselves to the team members, complemented, invented a new handshake, in
short, went mad.
 |
| Yes, we are in that corner and I am hiding behind somebody |
The first competition for our team was a puzzle. We were
given a part of a picture and were to fit the puzzles in place on the wall.
Ladies just went berserk! A lot of running around, screaming and shouting and
laughter!
Next was the hoola hoop round or the Hips Don’t Lie. My
niece has a hoola hoop, but instead of trying it out, we mostly use it for
weird games. Now I wish I practiced more. While the competition was on, I
happened to, of course accidentally, swing it quite for some time and there was
another fine lady who also did the same time ( in her case, not by accident).
So, we had a tie.
 |
| The practice |
Now, accidents rarely happen twice. No wonder, I lost and
the confident lady won. I am sorry. It was hard to remember so many names.
:D
I think I better go over to my niece’s and practice on
the hoola hoop. It would help me shed those extra kilos I have gained recently
as well as might increase my chance of winning.
Nice idea huh?
I guess, this post is getting too long. So, stay tuned for
the next post. There are lots of things you would enjoy reading about. So, watch
out