Age-old Problems

Old age problems dominated the morning hour at the Garden as a large number of members did not turn up. Sunita Jajodia was there, but did not exercise because of “ghutney mein dard”. Her sounding board, Santosh Tyagi had not come. Kishor Babani too was missing. Even Ved Prakash Grover (left), one of the die-hard regulars, was absent. Also Pratap Bhatt… So when Shekhawat started the exercises, he had only Bose for company.
Gradually, people started trickling in – Yusuf Rassiwala, Razia Khan, Bapu Rane… Just as Shekhawat was enquiring about Nafisa Sayed, she too turned up amidst greetings and wishes for a long life. But this is one thing she has been cribbing about (while she battles with a severe diabetes condition) -- oddly enough, echoed by 82-year-old Tara Chand Seth (below, left): “Lambi umar nahin chahiye!” He too had been complaining of body aches in the cold weather and took umbrage when Razia tried to correct him for not rolling his arms fully for some of the exercises.
Attention instantly shifted to Hari Naraiyani (right) standing alongside, who simply refused to do any of the exercises and was merrily singing to himself. “Inko dekho!” Razia pointed out. Shekhawat tried to cover up for him saying that with age, the body often refuses to perform certain exercises. “Budhape ka asar hai,” he explained. “Budhdha hoga tera baap,” snapped Tara Chand. But the damage was already done by Nafisa’s classic line: “Hari-bhai ka sab theek hai, sirf badan chhod ke!” Everybody burst out laughing, but Hari-bhai pretended not to have heard and instead started singing, “Abhi toh main jawan joon…” After some time, without as much as taking leave, he walked away from the exercises. Just like that.
Grover missed all the tamasha, down as he was with the cold bug and sore throat. Yesterday he had to take a break during the exercises due to his running nose. The condition seems to have worsened today as he has developed mild fever also. Tara Chand believes this problem could have been easily avoided had Grover not succumbed to the temptation of taking an extra helping of ice cream at the wedding of Geeta Sardhana’s daughter last Sunday.
Renu Babani's PIC SPEAK:
"Old is gold and no matter what anyone says, we will prove we are stronger than what we look."
Harish Wadhwa:
Yes, it was indeed surprising to see the die-hard regulars missing today. May be they just wanted to enjoy the light morning winter under a nice cosy blanket in bed... and why not? They deserve to enjoy life as they are all young at heart!