Shyamala Shetty and her group have been kitty friends for the last twenty five years.”All of us residing on Aga Abbas Ali Road formed one group and formatted our get-togethers into a kitty. This meant that we met at least once a month, held a draw gave the money we pooled in to the winner, had lunch and did it all over again the following month. We have seen each other through triumphs and heartaches, learnt from each other, watched our children grow, and now joyfully celebrate the arrival of grand kids,’’ she says.

While the term kitty party often attracts snide remarks and is dismissed as a gathering of bored, rich housewives, Shobhaa De built a whole television serial around this concept. ”A lot of bonding and a little bitching happens but no one complains and we all enjoy it,“ says Alka Sood who has grown up with the idea of kitty parties being an integral part of a woman’s social orbit. ”I come from Chandigargh where kitties are very popular and grew up with my mother and later my mother in-law attending around five kitties a month. They used to pool in Rs one to five thousand at each party, splurge on jewellery or expensive stuff that they wanted and paid the group back in installments. It was really like a savings club for ladies and a lot more fun,” she added.

“Kitties have evolved and reinvented themselves cleverly into various forms and concepts,” says Beena Sondhi, Operations Head of Bounce.”There are couple kitties (where husbands also join in the socialising), holiday kitties, jewellery kitties, family kitties and movie kitties. We pick a nice restaurant, have a lovely lunch, play a few games and destress completely for a couple of hours.”

Rosalind Fernandes is a member of two kitties. ’’One is a Mallu kitty. We are friends from the same cultural background so forming a kitty ensured that we met regularly. I joined the other kitty with the mothers of  my children’s friends studying in the same school,” she says.

Restaurant owners welcome these raucous groups of women who create a lot of noise for a few hours but generate good business by passing the word around. They offer them special deals and go the extra mile to keep them happy.

Jackie Pinto