Double Hundred!

We have just struck a double-century with our 200th post in blogosphere. This is a major milestone in a journey that began barely six months back with a brief write-up on our Club in the local edition of The Times of India (see Blog Archive alongside). Thereafter, with a report on a picnic at Kalyani Village Resort on June 20, 2010, we moved ahead in fits and starts, until we gathered momentum in August. And by October, we were fully on-stream, with a post every day, seven days a week.
Today, we have secured a fairly decent score of close to 11,500 page views, with visitors from all over the world checking what we do every morning at the Garden. Just to give an idea of what this figure implies, consider a Boeing 747 aircraft, having a normal capacity of 416 passengers. A figure of 11,500 means that as many as 27 plane-loads of people have visited this blog so far – from places as far out as Slovenia, Brazil, Japan, Poland and France. Of late, traffic is increasing from Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Switzerland, Pakistan and the Philippines – not to mention, the very loyal visitors from the USA, U.K., Australia and Canada. (If only these guys could also post their observations/ comments/ criticism from now on...)
While a celebration was in order for the double-hundred score (above, left), we did miss some regulars like Kishor and Renu Babani, Yusuf Rassiwala, Santosh Tyagi, Sunita Jajodia and Harish Wadhwa. Of all the days, they had to be absent today. It was in fact, a double celebration this morning, since P.Motwani (above, right) also treated us to luddoos for his birthday (which was yesterday). And as though these were not enough, there was yet another occasion to rejoice. It was Vasudev Bhateja’s (left) birthday today. Had he also decided to give us a treat, it would have become a serious problem of plenty.
As always, our good wishes go to him – for a long, peaceful and contented life.

Ramila Mistry says:
Congratulations Big Laaf! You've been amazing with your daily updates in the blog. Keep up your sincere efforts!
--Ramila
Aahuti Mistry says:
Heartiest Congratulations to the entire Laughing Club and for all the amusing content!
--Aahuti
Bhaswati Bose says:
Excellent lead photograph by Dilip-bhai! But why are Sitaram-ji, Arora-ji and Shekhawat-ji looking so glum? And Renu, we missed you.
--Bhaswati
Srichand Arora says:
BIG LAAF, CONGRATULATIONS FOR CREATING THIS HISTORY. WITHOUT YOU THIS BLOG WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. ON BEHALF OF ALL THE MEMBERS, I MUST SAY WE ARE ALL THANKFUL TO YOU. DO KEEP IT UP!
--S.V.Arora
Big Laaf replies:
Thank you ALL for your generous praise, though much of it is undeserved. The real credit for keeping this blog alive and sustaining it, day after day, rests entirely on ALL the members of OUR Laughing Club. I am a mere chronicler of what transpires every morning. I have no other contribution to make. The actual inputs come from the exuberant, carefree souls who people the posts. Without them there would be no blog. No Big Laaf.
Special mention must however, be made of Srichand Arora (above, right) for his unstinted support and being selflessly encouraging from Day 1 (when incidentally, he was at Singapore); of Kishor Babani, our gyan-guru for adding sparkle to the pages with his daily witticisms; of Nahid Khan and Razia Khan for being at the heart of everything in the Club; of Yusuf Rassiwala for being the sheet anchor, the voice of reason in the Garden; of Hari Singh Shekhawat, the very life-force of the Club... not-to-forget Renu Babani (left), for being a trusted sounding board with her regular and highly incisive comments; and of course, the others... Sorry, for not mentioning each by name as words fail me in expressing my gratitude to EVERYBODY.
Let's continue to have fun!
--Big Laaf