Morning Gloom

There was no music during the exercises this morning. Nobody to narrate jokes, nobody to talk cricket, nobody to say Sat Sri Akal… no post-exercise chai session. The Garden looked completely deserted (right) as the rains continued from last night uninterrupted. In the Chinese Hut, a couple of acrylic sheets on the roof had been displaced due to the heavy downpour, thus exposing the interiors to the skies. Water has begun to drip in and render the floor dangerously slippery. In the absence of proper drainage, small pools of stagnant water have formed at places, along the sides and corners of the Hut.
With the rains showing no signs of abating, it was hardly surprising that the turnout today should to be at an all-time low – at a single-digit figure. Sitaram Hivarkar, followed by Kajal and Dilip Babani, came in towards the end of the exercises to take the count to nine. Otherwise, it would have been Srichand Arora and Nahid Khan holding fort – along with Ved Prakash Grover, Bose, Monthi Serrao and Tara Chand Seth.
Adding to the morning gloom were reports of a breakdown in the talks between Anna Hazare and the government at Delhi. This became the main subject of discussion after the exercises as everyone waited (above) patiently for the rains to subside. The failing health of the 74-year-old Gandhian (who has been fasting for the past nine days) remains a huge cause of concern for all. Let us hope and pray that the current impasse is broken and the nation gets an effective anti-Corruption Bill soon.