Scottish Ball 2012, Lagos

November 24, 2012

Lagos Caledonian Society sponsored Scottish Ball, Muson Centre

The men in their Kilts and the women in their evening gowns.

Toasts raised. Honour to the Queen.

Start of another beautiful evening in Lagos. Highland music being piped live..Scottish whiskey years old enjoyed. Finally I can appreciate the fact that a man does look handsome in a skirt. When I read this years back in Mills & Boon, had failed to understand, looked up the word kilt in the dictionary, understood it was a form of skirt, but still failed to imagine how any tall dark handsome man can actually wear it and even if he wears it, how can he possibly look handsome!! Now I know better ;)

The music is infectious and so are the dance steps- a lot like our indian dances- dandiya/ garba types- groups formed, steps directed by a person on the stage. Sounds easy, but when they actually start doing it, there are goof ups! People bump into each other and there are ouches and oohs!! But nobody seems to mind..everybody is having a good time…

An elderly scot couple, the lady with blonde short hair is wearing a long black backless gown, and is led by her partner beautifully through all the dances, a young chubby couple- the girl is wearing a short knee length flowing frock, reminds me of a baby doll and instead of sporting a high heel like all the others has opted for a pair of keds …the way she dances …hops and skips and jumps her way through all the steps, the couple look so much in love…its beautiful to watch…a tall lady in a pink knee length dress with a chiganon at the top makes the effort to learn the steps from an older scot male and does it just the right way, another in black with short hair and a toothy smile, does not get it right the first time, but never the less keeps trying…another south east asian girl wearing a flowy long gown, dances while holding her gown the whole time and also keeps laughing through out, whether she does it the right way or the wrong……

As for me, I kept sitting at the table, wearing a black sari nursing my one glass of champagne the whole evening and watching this movie full of so many characters, soaking in the vibrating atmosphere, catching up with my friends.  The best moment was when I said I would like something vegetarian, and my fellow table guests including me thought, now I would be served some boiled and stir fried veggies. But surprise! For once I was not meted out just some veggies, instead it was a veg lasagna , very well prepared with mushrooms, zucchini, tomato aubergine and lots of cheese. For once, my husband also thought it would have been better to have opted for veg;)