Party Forfeited

A phapra-jalebi party was in store for us this morning if it were not for Yusuf Rassiwala (right) turning up at the Garden gates at 7:12 sharp. Also, if it were not for him wearing a light green T-shirt, Srichand Arora rushing out in black-and-white striped T-shirt and Rane-bhau nearly leaving his footwear behind while scampering towards the gate. With so many utterly silly variables at play, any party would have been rendered kaput.
But what was this party meant for?
Answer: To celebrate Razia Khan calling Arora a “gentleman” yesterday!
Can anything be more silly than this? But Arora fell for the bait and succumbed to her demand for a “party”. Like everybody else, he had clean forgotten about it till he saw Razia this morning and did an about-turn, asking Rane to follow him. He was on the way out to Jagruti (near Andheri Station) when Yusuf-bhai bumped into him at the Gate and put paid to all party plans.
The incident has come in for sharp criticism from a section of members who find such means for “extorting” parties as nothing short of exploitation. Nobody becomes any poorer (or richer) by a party, but there has to be some fairness about it. The consensus was that it is not in good taste to extract a price for calling someone a gentleman. Arora’s simplistic explanation was that being a man of his word, he could not go back on his commitment.
Yusuf-bhai drew high praise for letting sanity prevail and tactfully putting off the party idea to Diwali. As mentioned in an earlier post, his is the voice of reason everybody listens to. So when he made light of the proceedings by complaining that he wasn’t given time to laugh long enough (in the exercises), everybody started ribbing him: “Poor fellow, this is the only time of the day he gets to laugh. He cannot laugh anywhere else!”
Yusuf-bhai has started something new these days. His unprovoked greeting with folded hands, which used to be restricted to Kishor-bhai and Bose, is now being extended to others. Santosh Tyagi (left) almost jumped out of her skin when out of the blue she heard his sing-song drawl: “Good morning, Santosh-ji!”

Renu Babani says:
Party or no party, does a gentleman make! No one can judge a person or classify anyone, even jokingly and then state party time. To each his own and if that person does want the other to give a party, let the one who said it initially give the party first. After all, isn't he/she the one interested in the party? Humorous jibes at each other, comments, crazy remarks, etc. all in good taste are acceptable; but everyone should know where to draw the line. Everything should be done within limits so the other isn't offended. We meet in the mornings to have fun, enjoy ourselves, exercise and leave the Garden in good spirits. We do not want to get home and start thinking of why such an event took place which was in bad taste since it may have offended anyone unnecessarily. Why give that opportunity? Let's enjoy our time together so that we can recall the good times and laughter. By the way, Mr Arora, you are always, and have always been a thorough gentleman, and God bless you!
--Renu