In The Old Days
Many of us are working fauji biwis and have little time to spare today. Yet if we go back three or four decades we will find that fauji biwis of that day had little to do in terms of work. They had a need for an outing where they could get to know other ladies from the station better. This is where a central Ladies Club meeting came in very handy.
In one go you met ladies from other units, saw who had come in recently, and found out about who was on their way out. You got together and played some games, and had a good time. Then ate a few refreshments and came back home. A sort of “Biwi’s Day Out” if you please. Unfortunately things are no longer as simple today.
Now a days
Today each COW (Commanding Officer’s Wife) wants to impress all the SOWs (Senior Officer’s Wives) with her proficiency in organizing the best Ladies Club Meeting. This means your show had to be better than the last one, bigger than the last one and far more impressive than seen by the station ladies that year. So naturally their will be rehearsals for entertainment, and hours spent planning the decor and menu.
Sounds familiar? It happens all the time, from Gangtok to Guntur its the same story. Lets get out of the rat race ladies. Let’s have fun as we were meant to. Enjoy the evening, mingle with the ladies from other units, get to make new friends. Have fun, and relax from the daily grind that being a working fauji biwi pushes your life into.
Check out these Paper Games
The general format of a ladies club meet includes the following activities.
Introducing new members
Some entertainment by the hosts
The paper game
The group game
The prizes and lucky dip
Tea and snacks
So the paper game is usually something related to the theme of the evening, but often its just some interesting quiz. So here is a list of quizzes that you can use. The answers are also given in separate posts.
Not everyone will appreciate something so difficult as the Name that Study Quiz. After all who is interested in Draconology? Yet the answers will leave them better informed. So it might be fun to see who is the most cerebral of the lot.
For bookworms it will be fun to answer What’s in a Name. After all the initials of famous people are fun to find out. Yet just how many will get all the answers is yet to be seen.
Famous Explorers are not quite as famous as you would expect them to be. As these few questions will easily prove, not all of us know the pioneers as well as we would believe. The answers may throw up some surprises.
Fairy tales are an easy bet. This quiz on Fairy Tales here is a good one to see who is reading their babies a story each night. The answers will not be quite so elusive for ladies with a regular reading habit.
The more spiritually inclined will become happy with this quiz on the Ramayan. The answers here will be quite well known to most of us. After all we read the book in school didn’t we?
Weddings are always close to our hearts. So a quiz on wedding rituals will go down well with the ladies. In many cases the answers may not even be needed. Although they are provided just in case.
Wondering what theme to host? Try out these ideas here to see if you like any well enough to host a ladies club on. Have fun.
Posted by Lisa Kaul on February 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I agree cash ,the ladies Club should be just for fun and entertainment and basically socialising.Another important point…It should always be ‘optional’.
Posted by Cashmere Lashkari on February 22, 2010 at 6:30 pm
I know Lisa, the optional bit I forgot about. You can’t danda maro people and tell them to have fun.
Posted by snehal on February 22, 2010 at 6:53 pm
very nice and games bit was very interesting.I have always enjoyed ladies clubs ……have nothing to crib about them
Posted by snehal on February 22, 2010 at 6:54 pm
very nice and games bit was very interesting.I have always enjoyed ladies clubs ……have nothing to crib about them…great read
Posted by Reena Daruwalla on February 23, 2010 at 8:56 am
Good one Cash. Each ladies club they tell you “more ladies should come” which is really meaningless. and then the rehearsals are such as waste of time. I wish it was’nt just about “my unit/husband’s strongest” kind of showing off. It really does need to become less about show and more about having fun; and also about leaving people alone if they don’t want to have said fun. no point in dragging women there willy nilly if they are going to spend all their time wondering what their kids are up to at home.
Posted by Reena Daruwalla on February 23, 2010 at 8:56 am
BTW those paper games …. i will use for sure
Posted by radhika shah on April 29, 2010 at 10:22 am
Remember, one day, you will be a COW too. Let us see how different your game will be then . In fact, watching a COW at her best would be a brilliant training ground for the future. Take it in positive spirit.
We do not worry about what the kids are upto when watching the ‘Saas’ serials, so why should anybody choose to think of children only when attending the Ladies Club? The fauj is fauj because it runs on discipline and discipline has to be forced. Otherwise, where is the difference between the fauji and the civilian, the army and the corporate world? Do you object to the jawan being forced to run in the mornings or your husband when he has to attend an exercise, so why crib about being forced to attend the ladies club. It is all a part of the deal, mate!
Posted by Reena on November 28, 2010 at 2:51 pm
@ Radhika – Firstly i dont watch TV serials but if i did , it would be at home and i wouldnt need to wonder what my kids are up to because i could see/hear them.
Secondly when you say “Do you object to the jawan being forced to run in the mornings or your husband when he has to attend an exercise, so why crib about being forced to attend the ladies club” the small point of difference is that as a wife I am not a defence employee; i am not paid to be disciplined and to follow orders. Simple.
Posted by sahana on December 8, 2010 at 2:47 am
agree. i prefer staying in my metro and struggling with a long distance wedding as this peking order does nt go fine with me. why should my attitude reflect in my husband’s acr if the COW is upset with my not being able to dance or rehearse for her event.
a recent report says wives of army officers deployed have 34 per cent more stress levels. i think this should be a binding factor at the meetings.
Posted by maya on June 29, 2011 at 1:10 am
First of all , thanks for all games and ladis club themes. What I feel , we all r in a big brain stroming session. In short , what I feel , we need to work out something that maintains dignity of an army life, changing status of a woman,(read she should be occupied and earning positively ) and first we should respect and love ourself. Automatically, we can give our share ,whatever it is to our husbands army life, and not to forget to our children.If we can minimise unnecessary stuff, expensive ideas, and on the other hand if we can loosen up our unnecessary hype of working then ladis clubs will not be a forced event in our life. But all this and our career shpuld not be at the expense of our children. In fact somethings like leaving children in the park alone or at a party , should be thought of seriously.
Posted by shachi on September 29, 2011 at 6:12 pm
good n informative