Back to Pavilion

Srichand Arora (left) returned to a rousing welcome, looking refreshed and more cheerful than usual. He had been away for almost a fortnight on an extended vacation to Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar with family and very thoughtfully, brought back boxes of chikkis for each one of us. As mentioned in an earlier post, his son is down from Singapore to usher in the New Year with him.
No sooner had he settled in than things started to gather momentum on their own. Jokes began to flow freely during the exercises. Nahid Khan was back to her chirpy self with quick comments on the lyrics of songs playing – which were met by some equally sharp repartees from Arora-sah’b. With no interruption or delays today, the two laughing rounds and exercise session were wrapped up with clockwork precision.
Soon afterwards, Shekhawat-ji asked all present if they were interested in having a New Year’s party. According to Harish-bhai (below), parties are always welcome and do not really require an excuse or occasion. Everybody shared this feeling, only that there was some dispute over when to have it. New Year’s eve sounded inappropriate (“How can we have the party before the New Year?” asked Mrs Singh), 1st Jan would be impractical (“Everybody would be sloshed and flat in bed after the 31st December night,” predicted Shekhawat), 2nd Jan is a Sunday (“Hardly three or four people would show up,” said Bapu Rane)… And so the earliest available date would be 3rd January.
“But that is Monday, a working day,” Grover-sah’b (above) pointed out. “Why not Sunday? If members are informed in advance, they’d all turn up for the party!”
That made sense to everybody. The party is now fixed for January 2 morning, at the Chinese Hut. Shekhawat-ji said it would be held entirely on voluntary contributions (no compulsion on anybody to pitch in) and on his part, he would put in Rs 500. Instantly Arora-sah’b committed Rs 11, amid all-round laughter.
That’s the kind of humour we were missing for some time!

Harish Wadhwa says:
Small impromptu celebrations, even if it is just a cup of tea, is as welcome as the big and organised celebrations!
--Harish