Banno Raani: Boy, did we rock or what?

I know I know I have been late in giving you updates on Diwali Mela - so here I am all ready to dish out the details.

The night before, Shikha and I had packed all our inventory, packing materials, banner and display trays just so we would not panic and pant at the nth error...but, ofcourse the frenzy of a first ever expo kept running constantly through our minds. "Could it really be," I kept second guessing myself!

Morning came and I literally jumped out of bed. I had to get ready, count and organize my stuff before Shikha and Dhruv arrived to pick us up. I kept screaming my list out loud, and Kartik kept checking it off with a scream back to me. Phew! What would I do without him!?! Just as I assembled the last package in front of the door, I heard the horn and it was time to go.

Kartik and Dhruv loaded the stuff in the SUV, and as I was getting in, I noticed two additional figures sitting - blinking I realized they were Dhruv's parents!! Aunty and Uncle had gotten up early and to not only support us but also help us -- awww thank you soo much Aunty & Uncle for joining us - it was truly a delight having you both around!

The traffic was light at 8:00 am on Saturday - so the ride was smooth. Yet, the heart was beating with these intense trepidations. We finally reached the mela area after taking some wrong turns and not so obvious streets, and although a lot of vendors were already there setting up their booth/stall - it was insanely quiet - almost zen like. I felt a little calm, and I looked at Shikha and could tell she felt the same way too. Kartik, Uncle and I got off the car to ask around where our booth would be and so we kept going in every direction to track down the organizer. Finally, we found her and then our booth location, and one word Jackpot! It was in a perfect location - right between the main performance stage and the eating area. Dhruv got the car in the loading area, and we finally unloaded our stuff and took it to our booth.

Oooh, can't even begin to explain to you my excitement --- we will now be booth owners, yeay...that's what I kept singing to myself in my head. I think if someone saw me smiling to myself and bobbing my head side to side, they would have figured out what that meant. So, we were done setting up everything in like 1 1/2 hour - and then were all set to rock and roll!

Boy, did we rock or what?? At first it started slow, and then it picked up insanely. We got such a good response (ahem ahem) and people just loved our collection. They bought our stuff and then went back and brought their friends/family to buy as well. Thank you Ganeshji for such a great time and feedback at the mela. It was a blast!! Ofcourse, we had our share of nay-sayers and customers who came, looked and walked away - but, hey, that's totally OK! We know the type of clients we want to attract - and we got that share just fine!

That's it for now sweets -- enjoy the pics...