Familial Bonding

Call it ‘joy of sharing’ or ‘sharing of joy’, familial bonding between members just gets stronger by the day. After all, it is with the family that we share all our happy moments first – be it a birthday, some accomplishment, return from a vacation… or any good news worth celebrating.
Today, Yusuf Rassiwala distributed khajoor burfi in the Garden (right) to celebrate the acquisition of a spanking new eight-seater MUV – Mahindra Xylo. In all modesty, he called it a “bada family car”. But he could not also suppress his sense of pride at having met the demand of an insistent son, not to mention the snob value the vehicle carries.
While sharing his joy, members suggested taking the car out on a long drive and whether or not Yusuf-bhai approved, everybody would pile in. Fearing she would be outnumbered, Khatoon Baig pleaded for a place, at least on the roof of the Xylo! Mumtaz Jahan tried to be more reasonable, insisting that Yusuf-bhai take his family along in the car when we set out on a picnic next.
Yusuf-bhai incidentally, is toying with the idea of a trip to Shirdi. Shekhawat-ji however, is not too keen because of the distance and the time it would take by road. An alternative is to take the overnight train, as put forth by Sitaram-ji. Dilip Babani, who has been a regular to the Sai Baba shrine, also has some ideas to reduce the rigours of travel. Bapu Rane requested that regardless of the mode of transport, he be allowed to catch the kakad arati early in the morning.
Meanwhile, it was nice to see both Nahid Khan (above, left) and Razia Khan return to the Garden this morning after a brief break. Both appeared cheerful and in good spirits. Also, Ramila Mistry (right) ‘staged’ a comeback, doing a little jig before joining the group, as is her style. She was greeted with an “Eid Mubarak” from Srichand Arora – suggesting that to see her these days is as much of a rarity as sighting the Eid moon.
All in all, a nice enjoyable Monday morning.

Renu Babani says:
Yes, it was great to see familiar faces that were missing for a while. It was a lovely morning, what with Yusuf-bhai and his random spurts of 'namastes'. Apart from the regular banter, constant chit-chat and of course, despite the constant reminder of 'kindly pay attention to the exercise', everyone left laughing and in high spirits. The sweets were a special treat and hopefully, we shall catch sight of the SUV one of these days!
--Renu