Hi Khushies,
A big Thank You to all those of you who came to KhushDC's Jalwa Dance Party at the Karma Lounge last night. I hope you had a good time and enjoyed yourself. Please let us know all the things we can do to make the next Jalwa party better.
More than a couple of folks asked me today, "Was Jalwa a success or was it a failure?"
I would say that the answer depends upon the yardsticks that we set for success or failure and how high or low we set the bar.
People, People
The 51-odd people who attended the party (okay, okay, not ALL 51 were odd; only 2/3 of them were) looked like they had a lot of fun. They were dancing, singing, smiling, wining, laughing and taking breaks in between, among other things. The crowd was a diverse one. A few folks from AQUA - the Asian LGBT group - joined us, including one of AQUA's newly elected co-chairs. There were a number of women: both straight and lesbian, South Asian and non.
At least a couple of folks came from out of town, which makes them the 'first among esteemed guests'. One of them was a South Asian economist who happened to be visiting from
Though there were some new South Asian faces, I was struck by the large number of 'oldbies' (which is the opposite of newbies). As I looked at the crowd of dancers, I felt as if I had traveled five years back in time. A number of folks who were regular Khush event participants at that time, but seldom attended Khush events nowadays, were there in full force.
The mixed Bollywood music was nice, but the beats were so loud at times that they drowned out the words of some good songs. I will leave it to the other attendees to describe the music and the dancing as their music and dance tastes are a lot more refined and perceptive than my own! Most folks liked the venue a lot and said KhushDC should have future Jalwa parties at the same place.
Member Discounts
Of the 51 attendees, about 8 (i.e. 16%) were what we refer to as "registered KhushDC members" i.e. those who had paid their annual $15 membership dues within the past one year and hence got a $5 discount on their Jalwa ticket. What I find more striking is that KhushDC has 42 registered members, but less than 20% of them attended the Jalwa party.
Of these 8 registered KhushDC members, 6 were either Board members of former Board members or their partners / boyfriends.
A Numbers Game
KhushDC's net income in Jalwa ticket sales was $675, including the 5 tickets purchased online. $675 is also the exact amount that KhushDC paid Karma Lounge for renting the venue. KhushDC paid an additional $400-odd for Amer, the DJ. We did not break even on this event. But KhushDC has sufficient reserves in its bank account to pay for the loss.
From what I know, each Jalwa party costs KhushDC $1000 to $1100, and we have always broken even or made a profit in the past. Previous KhushDC Boards have organized 2 to 3 Jalwa parties every year, but yesterday's party is the first one organized by the Board that took over last summer, and is the first Jalwa since March 2007.
As Jalwa parties go, I think this one was one of the more thinly attended parties, if not THE most thinly attended one. There could be several reasons for the low attendance. The party was organized on a short two-week notice; someone please correct me if I'm mistaken. It also happened to be scheduled on the same day as the annual holiday parties of several organizations and corporations, and this may have robbed us potential attendees. Maybe, maybe not.
The Karma Address
We also made the mistake of advertising an incorrect street address for the venue. We advertised "
A Fifty-Fifty Deal
Having advertised the event in a number of LGBT and non-LGBT forums; South Asian and general forums, we were hoping and expecting a turnout of around 100. But the reality was half the expectation.
This reminds me of another 50-100 incident. Nirad Chaudhuri, a Bengali accountant from the last century became convinced at age 51 that he was going to die soon. So he wrote a large autobiography titled, "Autobiography of an Unknown Indian". But he was wrong about his death. He went on living, became a famous writer and finally died in 1999 at age 102. Reality is sometimes twice one's expectation; yesterday it was quite the opposite.
The Sobriety Surprise
As 2 a.m. neared and the party's end approached, I and a number of others noticed a non-South Asian person who was drunk to the point where he was having trouble standing up, and was leaning against the bar counter. That's when it struck me: none of the South Asians appeared drunk. Maybe I was just standing too far from them to notice. In any case, they seemed to be a lot closer to being sober than to being drunk. I hadn't traveled back in time after all. The passage of years is known to mellow people; I suppose it sobers them down too!
Sign Off
A big Thank-You to Divya, Jahangir, Harish and Amy for organizing the Jalwa. Thanks also to a number of previous Board members for giving us lots of useful tips and advice. Thank you Salman, Jay, Hasseb and Suresh for volunteering to help at the door with the ticketing.
We welcome your comments, criticisms, perspective etc.
That brings us to the end of this update / feedback / postmortem note. Boy, you must have had some patience to have read through all this!
--Ninad Jog
KhushDC Board
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Jalwa Party Feedback
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