Cause for Concern

Shekhawat-ji’s health has indeed become a cause of concern for everybody. He looked pretty weak and off-colour yesterday morning. In the evening, we are told, he looked even worse. Today he did not turn up.
At the beginning of the exercises this morning, Arora-sah’b made a fervent appeal to all members to desist from probing (or even asking him) about his health. “It makes him feel all the more depressed,” he explained.
This is natural. For someone with a military background who has been taking pride in his fitness and physique – thanks to periodic medical check-ups and daily attendance in the Laughing Club – to find himself suddenly low in spirits and helpless, can be terribly distressful.
That is why we deliberately underplayed his condition in this blog (see Fun in Fussing of October 28) and tried to dissuade everybody from fussing over him when he returned from his holiday in Rajasthan. Quite clearly, he was nursing some fears on the health front and we did not want to confirm those misgivings without him obtaining expert medical opinion. So we made light of his condition and kept assuring him that he’d be fine before long. It did cheer him up a bit.
The problem about ageing is that we tend to believe the worst anyone tells us about our health and end up feeling increasingly insecure and sink further into depression. We become pathological pessimists. We feel helpless and lose the will to fight. This appears to be Shekhawat-ji’s mental state.
Amidst all these concerns, Sandhya Narang’s return to the Club came as a welcome beam of sunshine on a dull day. The lady has been going through a trying time for over a year and lost her husband to cancer last month (see Member Bereaved of September 20). Today, she could summon the courage to be with us once again and resume her normal routine.
The other good news of the day is Monthi Serrao (right) returning after a fortnight-long vacation at Ooty and some other rejuvenating spots down South. She looks refreshingly cheerful and full of beans. To mark her return, she distributed chocolates soon after the exercises.

Renu Babani says:
Yes, we are all concerned regarding Mr Shekhawat no doubt, but isn't that natural? However, give it time and am sure he will be back to his normal self. He is a headstrong gentleman and will come through this well. Thank you, seems like my caption was appreciated! Mrs Bose, do hope to see you at the Garden tomorrow, and hopefully I make it too! Today's exercise was being attempted in Hindi once more and constant corrections were being made. I realised that I definitely have a lot to learn in regards to the language and am still a long way off. However, am sure will learn soon enough!
--Renu