The Cocktail Party

"You and I don't know the process by which the human is
Transhumanized: what do we know
Of the kind of suffering they must undergo
On the way of illumination?"
-T.S. Eliot, "The Cocktail Party"

My first ever black tie event happened yesterday. Prepping up for it was a kind of an elaborate ritual like a fancy dress competition. I was thinking of the price people pay just for an evening like this. I picked up an Oscar de la Renta suit. and then a formal white shirt and black dress socks at Brooks Brothers.The tie was from pierre cardin. Even though people wear contacts for such a thing, I was comfortable with my zeiss lenses held in an oakley frame. Had an oxford style bata which carried me enough times through important meetings. Why am I going through this name dropping crap. Because, despite all these attempts, I was the least expensively dressed guy at this party.

Just to give you a taste of these folks, the host had his residence very near Sandhill road where the house alone would have costed 2-3 million USD. The moment I parked I saw a Valet coming up and telling me he got it. I glanced around the other parked cars and managed to see a Bugatti, a Maserati among the usual constellation of S-Class Mercs and M3 beemers. Whoa! My golf must be the least valued car in the lot.

The theme for this event was "Moulin Rouge" and I could see women dressed exactly for the theme while the men were mostly black tie. I had no clue how to find my host till I ran into a a co-worker who was also invited. Dom Perignon was served initially for the kick off and later we went to this invention called Tequila Tunnel where you pour in the patrone silver tequila off the top at one end of an ice sculpture like a lady and out comes the tequila chilled by the ice at one end. After the usual banter where I met a couple of Venture Capitalists and a head of global sales for a company who was all praise for India.

Later, we went out to the deck with a glassful of grand marnier and smoked Cohiba. This was the exact moment where I felt like playing "Have a Cigar" on the stereo but it was playing "Come Together" by the beatles to which we started singing impromptuly like a group slowly joing a chorus. Then we went down to the basement that was converted to a dance floor with all the equipment and lights. We were dancing and singing to the tunes of "American Pie". It was one fabulous moment in the party.

Waiting in the line for drinks or the restrooms I met up folks like founder of a company bought by google and executives of some famed companies.

Slowly people started to wean away saying their good byes, with their hugs and kisses. I was the last person to leave wondering what does it take for hosting such an extravagant affair. I was asking my host as to why is this an yearly affair instead of semi-annual to which he replied this is all that he can do. The host was none other than my own boss :-) which was my entry ticket to the in-crowd of the valley.