Gender Bender

Gender lines were firmly drawn this morning as the men fought valiantly for numbers in the face of a formidable female presence. All the regulars, including Yusuf-bhai, Bapu Rane, Harish-bhai, Sitaram-ji, Grover-sah’b… were missing from action. Luckily Arora-sah’b and Ram Shankar Shukla came in to save face and take the male presence to five. Otherwise it would have been left for Shekhawat-ji, Kishor-bhai and Bose to be holding fort and saving the Club from becoming an all-women’s laughing affair!
Naturally, every member mattered as Shekhawat-ji kept count – eyes continually riveted on the Garden gate. To his dismay, all late-comers plodding in were ladies. When their number doubled that of the males, Sunita Jajodia, in her excitement announced 11 ladies, only to earn Arora’s reproof. “Kahan 11, mujhe toh sirf 10 dikh rahein hain?” he pointed out. “Yah toh aap mujhe aapke group mein shaamil karne chahti hai…”
Arora-sah’b (right) was not supposed to be in the Garden this morning as his son has come over from Singapore and would be around till January 3. The family had plans for a short holiday in Lonavala, followed by another trip to Mahabaleshwar. His son had to however, make an unscheduled trip to Chennai today, thereby enabling Arora-sah’b to pay us a surprise visit. Seeing the near decimation of male presence, he couldn’t help remarking, “Ab baahar se aadmi logon to pakad ke lana padega!”
The desperation of the men reached hill-llorious heights at the end of the exercises when Dilip Babani (left) was spotted walking in casually through the Gate. The counting and claps had already begun. Arora restarted the counting so as to give Dilip time to join us if only to raise the male count by one. Simultaneously, others waved at Dilip to hurry. The ladies understood the ploy and raced through the counting. Confusion reigned supreme for a while. Dilip-bhai ran and ran – not knowing why he was running… and joined the men while they kept on counting and clapping. By then, the ladies had moved on to the surya namaskar prayer.
Talk of one-upwomanship!

Renu Babani says:
Looks like nobody can beat the ladies. We seem to constantly outnumber the men, no matter what. Today was hilarious and despite the men desperately hoping for their own kind to somehow materialise from somewhere, the women won in the end. The latest topic now is when is the next picnic? The ladies are supposed to decide the spot, so let's put our thinking caps on, and come up with a great place.
--Renu