A Synopsis by Upali Ratnayake

So the long awaited much anticipated event arrived at last and there were over 100 to meet it and greet it.At the newest pad, Kingsbury..The room was full of bustle when I arrived at 7. Mano was directing traffic towards a photographer who was more willing than Emmanuelle-taking pictures I mean.Then along came two beauties who  with such coy smiles and with fragrance in the air hustled us to the counter and extracted 6000 of the very best from me.We were then escorted to the floor where a soothing welcome drink of Passion? Anoda? was placed in our hands.Now I am from the 80s and I brought with me a clutch of oldies from my batch. They looked hard at the drink and then at me. I knew the calculus that was going through their mind and I said "wait till the whisky comes."They perked up at once.Gradually the hall was filling. The girls were a treat to watch- shimmering with shiny trinkets and glossy dresses.Oh how the young bedazzle our vision.Soon there was the mellifluous noise of the band breaking into beat, beckoning us onward to the light fantastic.But no takers. Jude was asked to welcome us and that was one of the shortest welcomes I've heard.Now there was a major distraction by way of throatwarmers and I must say there was more than enough of the stuff..This made all happy.But spoilt the dance. Men were congregating in small groups abandoning their wives.Decibels were rising and stories of how they copied and how they took the lecturers for a ride passed from mouth to mouth. It was at this moment that Preethi,took hold of Upali and swirled him round and round the floor until he cried for mercy.His cry of mercy was heard and several joined them on the floor. The band kept it going giving them the required note.There was a positve cor-relation between the hyper activity and the amount of whisky consumed. Dancing was interspersed with items  from artistes .A young boy did the Michael Jackson stuff and a girl did a belly razzle.   There were also competitions For Mr MBA and Miss MBA. The misters had to show their torsos and it was clear all were healthy specimens.The girls were asked to catwalk and didn't they show their paces. Finally Rohana and Madhu were adjudged Mr and Miss MBA..Good for them. Then there was a raffle draw with lots of prizes going round.Jude got dinner for two at the KIngsbury. Dinner was typical Sri Lankan with koththu hoppers and  fried rice.These disappeared,  easily washed down with whisky. Satisfaction was written all over their  faces.There was a lot of tummy tapping.and back slapping. It was indeed a new set of MBAs who left the hotel in the early hours with lots of advice on how to avoid the cops. They are now looking forward to the next hair down event.