My new favourite comfort-watch is ‘Abbott Elementary’, a sit-com set in the titular under-funded public school in Philadelphia with a primarily Black cast. It’s directed by Quinta Brunson, who plays one of the teachers, Miss Teagues, an almost annoyingly chirpy do-gooder who loves her job and pathologically seems unable to take no for an answer. The show is speckled with incredible characters, each with large personalities, each containing multitudes who, over the arc from season one to four, are transformed through their relationships with each other, much in the manner of ‘Parks and Recreation’, another show I love dearly. The last episode of season three refreshingly takes place outside the usual institutional setting. It’s the last day of school, and Miss Teagues decides to have a party at her tiny apartment and has invited many of the other teachers and some other non-work friends. A control freak, she has planned everything to the tee, making leeway for her guests’ multifaceted personalities so that the party is buzzing. She preps an anti-social corner, a boardgame area, and carefully picks the film that will play in her bedroom for people who want to ‘check out’ socially. Everything is running smoothly and on cue, until something happens that she hadn’t anticipated! People go off script and begin having fun.

I enjoyed the episode thoroughly, but when it was over, felt so much nostalgia for the parties I used to throw in my apartment in Delhi. Every now and then I would feel the itch to invite people over. Since I was raised as a Bombay Goan, it was simply not in my DNA to have a party without a menu. It was super normal in Delhi for people to host BYOB house dos solely with snacks. My social circle alternated between those of us perpetually broke and ultra rich collectors, gallerists and artists whose parties had caterers, open bars and hired entertainment. I suspect it gave me a lot of joy to plan a menu and to improvise the easiest way to execute it.