We’ve all had memorable moments while growing up. Some of the best memories have been during school and in college, where we used to hang out with friends at malls and cafes, bunk classes, go for movies, and do a lot more. As time passes, we get entrusted with more responsibilities and soon shift into our daily jobs, get married, have kids and so on. To break the monotony of life, it is always good to catch up with friends.
Even better is to plan a reunion where you all can engage in valuable conversations over lunch or dinner. In this age of social media, where every reasonably social person is available at just a click of a button, it is not that hard to find your friends, classmates or colleagues for a reunion. If such a situation arises, here is how an English conversation should go about (consider three people planning a reunion).
Note: This is a telephonic conversation
Mrinalini: Hello, Gaurav? Can you hear me?
Gaurav: Hi Mrinalini, I am here. Has Kunal joined in for the conference call?
Kunal: Hey guys, I am here. How are you doing?
Mrinalini: I am good. How about you guys?
Gaurav: I am doing great. Shall we start as per the discussion we had last week?
Kunal: Yes, indeed. Let’s start. So, I sent an email to our 2010 batch and received confirmed responses from 15 of them for our planned MBA reunion. Of a total strength of 45 students, I would say that is a pretty good number. That means 1/3rd are coming!
Mrinalini: That’s really great. I guess several have shifted abroad or to other cities in India and won’t be able to make it.
Gaurav: I saw the email. At least 20 haven’t responded yet to the Google form we sent, so I think we should wait further.
Kunal: Er, I don’t think further delays are feasible. We need to lock down a date and venue in Delhi-NCR before January-end. We should make a rough estimate otherwise the prices will go up.
Mrinalini: That’s a valid point. However, what’s the scenario if there are cost overruns?
Gaurav: I guess we should take the help of some event budgeting app. I will look up some options online. There should be something to implement cost savings.
Kunal: For the venue, I might have something. There is a colleague in my office whose friend is a restaurateur. He owns a couple of cafes in Hauz Khas. We can likely get one of them at a good rate.
Mrinalini: That’s great to hear. I think that will also take care of our budgeting.
Gaurav: Yes, by the way, I have implored all our friends not to pay too much attention to their phones during the meetup, because that will inevitably be a big waste of time. For selfies, it is fine, but I have actually asked a professional photographer friend to take some really good snaps of our meeting.
Kunal: Fantastic. I personally don’t like the fact that people waste their precious time on their phones, especially when they are meeting someone in person.
Mrinalini: I agree. It’s not every day that we a reunion happens. By the way, I wanted to ask. Have we intimated any of our professors of this meetup? Could they be interested?
Gaurav: Oh no, why should that be? This is not an alumni meet. We will have to take care of impropriety and other things. This is a reunion with our friends!
Kunal: Indeed. And I am pretty sure many would back out if they were told that one of our professors will also be attending.
Mrinalini: I agree with you guys. So let’s see, the venue issue is solved. The date will be around Feb-end, on a Saturday night, preferably. Is there any way to get a firm response from everyone who plans to attend the reunion?
Gaurav: I can follow up through Facebook or Whatsapp. Many of them are in my contact list. I guess you and Kunal can also do the same. We can create a Google doc sheet to share the list and update it accordingly. Whatsay?
Kunal: I am on board with this. What about you, Mrinalini?
Mrinalini: Sounds like a plan! Let’s do it.
Vocab Checklist
Entrusted = Assign the responsibility for doing something to (someone)
Lock down = To make an arrangement definite so that it will not change
Cost overrun = A cost increase, underrated or budget overrun, involves unexpected costs incurred in excess of budgeted amounts
