BASC Picnic 2010 A report Venue: Cypress Arnold Park, Cypress, CA Date: June 12, 2010 BASC celebrated 2010 annual picnic on June 12 Saturday at Cypress Arnold Park. For pictures, press the control key and click here to open the Picasa page. More than 220 adults and kids joined the fun filled day which started with Muri-makha accompanied by Chanachur, Acharer tel and Pakora. A delicious Chamcham was served as well. The weather was a comfortable 65-68 degree for most of the day. Though the poor organizers arrived around 10:00 AM and the jumpers for the kids were set up, people really started showing up from 12:15 (many of them were watching England-USA world cup soccer match at home). The kids immediately converged to the jumper (moonbounce) and basketball court, depending on their ages. Some grown ups started trying out their cricket skills on a patch of concrete. But initially most of the people were comfortable sitting down and catching up with each other. After all, some of them have not met since last night ! Before lunch, the spell of Adda was broken and we had some organized sports events. Kids' and ladies' run and spoon races were well attended. The kids' races were done for several age groups. Being intelligent Bongs, we did not bother to measure the length of the track - rather did a ballpark estimate on how far a particular group will be able to run before collapsing (farther for 10-16 year olds and substantially closer for the grown ups!). There was some argument about whether the spoon could be legally held parallel to the face rather perpendicular to it; but those dissenting voices were quickly silenced as all the spoon race winners took advantage of this unusual way of holding the spoon in their mouth. Bowing to ladies' demands, a few gallant gentlemen decided to race as well. Some ladies who were holding the finishing lines were in a bit of trouble as our mucho male runners finished the race with great momentum and tore the finishing line away from the ladies' hands. While the race was going on, a mini world cup soccer game was taking place on one side of the large ground. For a change, both the teams were from US and players were freely entering and exiting the game. The players lacked proper jerseys and footwear (many of them were barefoot) but they made up with their intensity. True, sometimes shots were blasted in the wrong directions but who cared ? It was so refreshing to see many young and not-so-young bongs get involved in such an intense game. (Rumor is that many of the players visited nearly CVS in search of Advil after the picnic was over.) The Goal on one side was efficiently tended by a visiting Mesomashai, who remained unbeaten. Not to be outdone by mini world-cuppers, the ladies had an impromptu Kabadi game on another side. There were a lot of screaming and few falls but no broken bones (thanks god!). There was also some confusion about who won that game but the unanimous conclusion was that all had great fun. It was almost 2:30 PM when people finally headed out to the covered lunch area. The menu contained rice, yellow daal, pakora (from morning), taowa bhaji, one vegetable, goat curry and kalakand - supplied by our trusted Darshan Singh of Ashoka restaurant. Food was delicious and plenty - some attendees actually took some food home. After lunch, Ladies musical chair was a surprise hit. The iHome system brought for supplying the music part of the geme proved too feeble to rise above the noise created by screaming adults and kids. One of our chivalrous soccer stars finally used the age-old method of beating a large spoon on a food tray in lieu of "music". Ladies' musical chair competition was so intense that BASC executive committee decided on the spot to start campaigning for inclusion of this event in the next summer Olympics (a petition will soon be sent out for your signature). The kids' musical chair followed the ladies' but while it was fun to watch it could not provide the same level of screaming excitement from the audience and participants. All attending families were also given a six-pack ice cooler as a gift with custom design drawn by one of our BASC members. Unfortunately we do not have enough to distribute to those who could not attend. But you can see a picture below: After lunch, Jaljeera drink made by one of our dedicated members became an instant hit (like last year). People kept coming back for more glasses of this exquisite drink until the very end and our tireless volunteer kept making more. BASC thanks all the members who came and all the volunteers who helped out in making the picnic such a great success. Many of our members who came to picnic after a long time commented that they did not have so much fun in a long time. Make sure that you join us next year for picnic as well. But please, please, please reply to the eVite on time. A recent study shows that it just about 40 seconds for an average person to click on eVite and type the number of attendees.

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