Tian in Wonderland

A bunch of exuberant adults who forgot to grow up. A tiny one-year-old brought in by Grandma to cut his birthday cake. A shy 20-something who has outshone everybody in the University. A monkey pops out of nowhere. A mild natured lady also celebrates her birthday. A crazy old man tries to outdo a middle-aged woman at stamping centipedes on the floor. Add to this a sumptuous spread of dhokla, jalebis, batata-wadas, phapra, gulab-jamuns… and what do you get?
A morning that comes but once in a lifetime!
Monthi’s grandson, Tian had to come face-to-face with this world of makebelieve in his very first year of life. Before he could cut his cake, he was plucked from his grandma’s arms and held aloft by the tallest of the tall, Yusuf-bhai, only to find himself sitting snug in Mrs Singh’s lap, then locking eyeballs with Shekhawat before cuddling up in Ramila-ben’s arms. Still, it would take Tian some years before he figures out why Kishor-bhai had addressed him as Michael initially.
For Dilip and Kajal Babani’s daughter, it was more of a fleeting visit. A wise girl, she came, she saw and she scrammed. She did not have to be told that a monkey had visited us minutes before, obviously wanting to join the Club as member. Neelam well understood this was no place for her and that her parents were better equipped to handle us. We must nevertheless wish her all success in life and many, many more laurels, both academically and professionally.
Ultimately, it was left to Mrs Kiran Arora to play hostess to what also happened to be her birthday party. Mr Arora and Dilip-bhai did all the running around, fetching fresh savory from Jagruti (near Andheri Station) while we simply sat back and ate. (Even eating can be an effort. So we carefully packed the stuff in polythene bags and carried it home triumphantly – breakfast taken care of!)
Hari-bhai’s parting shot to Tian was telling: “Jaldi bade ho jao beta, aur hamara Club join karo!”
In the picture: Yusuf-bhai with the ‘celebritys’ (clockwise from top): Dilip Babani, S.V.Arora, Kiran Arora, Kajal Babani, Neelam Babani and Monthi Serrao with Tian
Neelam Babani says:
Thank you so much for writing such nice words about me, though I am not quite sure if I deserve them all. But thank you. It was really nice spending those 10 minutes with all of you. Hope I continue to have all your blessings, now and always.
--Neelam