Written by: Bhawna Mishra
Ever dreamt of a night out with friends? Ever thought of having loads of fun the whole night? Ever thought of leaving all your worries behind and go partying? Of course, we all must have at some point or the other!
But going for one always seems so impossible, as we are either busy with our household chores, office work or kids. Nevertheless, it all turned to be possible by the IWF team, where fifty ladies sailing their hearts across the Baltic Sea went for a cruise party to Tallinn.
On the night of October 6, 2017, all fifty ladies gathered at the Helsinki port. We all were so excited that we decided to travel to the port together in groups. Many of the ladies gathered in the Central railway station and traveled to the Helsinki port together. Little to our surprise, the IWF team had gifts planned for everyone like for the first person and the last one to arrive. We then received our cabin passes from the team, had a little chit-chat with friends and a brief photo shoot before heading for the cruise. After boarding, we were told to gather on Deck 7 where all the activities were supposed to start. So after leaving our luggage in the cabins, we headed towards the duty-free shops did little shopping, applied some makeup 😉 and rushed towards Deck 7 where all the fun was waiting for the ladies.
We gathered on the deck at 11 pm, where the most exciting game was planned – “Queen of Sheeba”. In this game, the queen will ask you for something and you have to get it to her as soon as possible. Whoever gets it to the queen first is the winner. So, our Queen of Sheeba asked for things like – 4 pair of sports shoes, 10 finger rings, husband’s photo, 4 belts from strangers, white purse, Indian rupees notes, etc. There were few dares also, which our Queen demanded, like a selfie with a stranger, teaching Indian dance moves to a stranger, performing a small pole dance, etc. Everyone enjoyed it with their full enthusiasm and the strangers too helped us in every possible way. It was extremely entertaining for them as well. It was lovely to see the ladies actually helping each other to win the prize, by finding things for them. Winners of the game received gift coupons of Indian restaurants, movie tickets, and many other exciting gift vouchers.
After having so much fun, we headed to the dance floor, had few drinks and some of us enjoyed dancing. The stage had live music performance, so dancing to the light and jazz music was all so exciting, entertaining and relaxing for everyone, people who were dancing as well as the viewers. After dancing on Hollywood music, it was time for us to shake our legs on some Bollywood beats. So we found a hall with a small stage, played Bollywood music and danced till we dropped. The music was played on demand by our
own RJ and we enjoyed dancing with our old and new friends.
A couple of games like ‘Find Your Flock’ and ‘Passing the ball’ were planned too. In Find your flock, everyone picked a paper chit, on which a word was written and we were supposed to flock and find a related word by asking around, like ‘Honey & Buzz’. The game was very energetic, as we all were shouting and trying to find our pair. Some of us did find and some couldn’t. However, it sure was a fun activity. After dancing some
more, we played the game – ‘Passing the ball’, where we were to pass the ball when the music was played and was supposed to stop when the music stops. The person who has the ball was asked to perform a dare in front of everyone. It was both scary and exciting for all the ladies, as some of us experience major stage fear. But, it all worked out so well when everyone’s friends accompanied them while the performances.
It was such an overwhelming experience to see that. After each dare, everyone received a memento with had their name on it along with small phrases to describe them best! It came as a lovely surprise to everyone. After the games, all the ladies danced again till 4 am in the morning. Some of us were so tired that they went back to their cabins and tried to get some sleep for the remaining night. While, some of the ladies were still charged up and went back to the cabins to have some more fun, giggles, gossips, and laughter.
We didn’t realize and it was already 9 am in the morning. We quickly got ready and had some breakfast. Lastly, we all gathered on the deck for a quick photo session. 10:30 am and it was time for us to say goodbye. So, here we all were waving at each other, hoping to meet again for such a fun-filled evening.
The trip sounded difficult to plan and execute. But it was one of the well coordinated and smoothly planned trips by the IWF team. Some of us couldn’t come for it and we definitely missed them! This trip gave us the opportunity to know our friends more, to make new friends and have fun which will be cherished for the whole of our life. This time we reached half a century in numbers and wish to reach a century and more in the
coming time!
Indian Women in Finland Ry 