Discordant Voices

Soothing music, another amusing round of exercises conducted in Hindi, efforts to cheer up Shekhawat with Bose giving him a warm jaddu-ka-jhappi (at Arora’s bidding)… just that the fun and frivolity was not going down well with some members.
This had been happening for quite some time. From Tara Chand-ji's oblique glances at his watch to Sunita-ji’s trademark outbursts, “Jaldi karo, der ho rahi hai!”, people have been showing signs of impatience and urgency from time to time.
The most vocal among them is of course, Sitaram-ji. He has not hidden his displeasure towards any activity that detracts from the exercises. For him, all jokes and pranks take away from the “main purpose” of being in the Garden. “We should be serious about the exercises,” has been his constant refrain.
No amount of explaining that the deliberate joking and light banter neither detract nor compromise our seriousness towards exercising seems to have convinced him. If anything, the entertainment adds spice to what could otherwise have easily deteriorated into a dull, monotonous chore.
Just this morning, Arora-sah’b urged everybody to be more “imaginative” and think of “newer ways” of going about the exercises. “Or else, our train would be running on a single track and that could get very boring,” he said. “Let us think of ways of bringing about some diversions along the route.”
Indeed, the “diversions” are what has kept this Club going and draws in the members at daybreak. We do not have anything like admission fees or any other binding condition to ensure daily attendance. Surely there is something beyond the obvious and the ordinary that has held us together as a family and makes us return to the Garden again and again, every morning, without fail.

Renu Babani says:
Whatever anyone says, we all end up enjoying ourselves. We have fun commenting and teasing each other and laughing for no reason too. Right now, everyone is hoping for Mr Shekwat getting better soon. His health has got worse ever since he returned from his holiday. Just today someone asked when are we going for a picnic, to which he replied, "Let me get better first". So let's wish him a speedy recovery!
--Renu