This Report is written by Mahesh Vasudevan, a 11th grade student at Wheeler School, Lincoln. In the past Mahesh has contributed short stories to this blog and wrote a short play based on Mahabali’s life for 2008 Onam. Mahesh is the driving spirit behind NEMA’s youth group. Below is the report Mahesh wrote about NEMA’s Halloween party which has held in Chelmsford, MA
NEMA began doing its Halloween event since 2007 and has always had rousing success. So going into 2010, it seemed a hard task to outdo the past events. One important change was that in venue. The previous two events were held in Grafton, but this year it was to be held in Chelmsford. Of course, there was a lot of planning and work that was to be done which especially kick started following Onam in late August. Even the simplest, most overlooked things were taken into great account. From the food, to the decorations, to the games, to the activities, the people behind the operations tried to perfect every last detail.
As expected, this year’s Halloween event was fun, vibrant and an absolute blast! I and three of my friends, Justin, Kyle and Nikita, made the haunted house. Justin and Nikita have helped me for the past three years make the haunted house. Going into this year, we were particularly worried of how we would outdo last year’s haunted house, coming up with new, creative ideas and to keep the visitors scared but letting them have a fun time. The new venue came as a double-edged sword as we thought a change of pace would be great but it would be starting from scratch. Nevertheless, our enthusiasm and love of making the haunted house negated these factors. As all four of us arrived late, it seemed we’d have to pull of a miracle to put up the haunted house on time. For almost three straight hours, we duct-taped, stapled, piled, planned and worked tirelessly until our product was complete. With the help of my father, Gopal and Sivan uncles we had our cast assembled. Besides the fog machine/fire alarm mishap in which everyone had to go out of the building for a while, it seemed like a great success.
Upstairs, the other activities seemed to be doing a great job of supplying the guests with entertainment too. Musical chairs, run by Pinky Vasudevan, were wildly popular, having everyone’s competitive juices flowing and made everyone feel like a five-year-old again. However Rishi, Aishu and Giri uncle were able to outlast the kids, women and men in their respective categories to win. Musical statues were another fun game solely for the children and won by Ricky, Advika and Advaitha. Advika also spread her game domination to passing the parcel and took top prize there too. One of the newest activities, the Jack-O-Lantern contest, garnered a lot of attention too as there were many unique designs. Saji Uncle and Jaya Aunty took second prize with Haunted House and Anjali took first with her unique Kathakali. The most hyped and waited-for event, the one that everyone wanted to participate in and tried so hard to do well was the Costume contest. There were zombies, ghouls, witches and fools. Rani Aunty won in the adults category, Aishu won in teens with her cowgirl getup and Archana won in children. Overall, Halloween was a fun-filled and entertaining event for everyone.
The 2010 Halloween event definitely outdid the past Halloween events in a good way. NEMA Halloween is of course a fun event that lets the Malayalee community of New England experience the fun of that day. What other Halloween event can you find Domino’s pizza alongside lemon rice? It’s especially great because it has something for everyone. If you want to have fun like a kid, there are so many fun activities like musical chairs. If you want to show off your creative flair, the Costume contest is the way to go. Go into the haunted house if you want to be scared out of your wits. To show off your artistic side, the Jack-O-Lantern contest is always open. Best of all, all of the great things at the Halloween event are always at a modest price. So next year you know there’s one more reason to look forward to Halloween!
New England Malayalee Association's blog 