Distressed

There are days when time hangs heavy at the Garden. And there are days, like today, when pretty much nothing happens and yet, an hour flashes by without anybody realizing. You can put this to the mood of members, the vibes exchanged or the antics of the chatter-boxes and pranksters present.
Nafisa Sayed was present today, but looked unusually subdued. Many chided her for doing "phunti" for days on end – which Bapu Rane corrected to “daandi” and Nahid Khan further corrected to “gulati”… just to cheer her up. So troubled was Nafisa (seated in the middle in pic above) with her diabetes problem that even Shekhawat’s madcap pranks during the Slow and Fast laughter round failed to amuse her. She kept repeating her pet line, “Zindagi se kantaal gayi hoon,” only to trigger a round of laughter around her.
Another person to curse her luck is Bhaswati Bose (left). She is down with lumbago – a painful condition caused by the degeneration of lower back muscles. She is presently under medication to relieve her of the agony of muscular spasms. But it will take another six months before she recovers fully. Even then, it is unlikely she'd be able to return to the Garden to exercise as before.
Meanwhile, Shekhawat has purchased a problem – only that he does not realize it. The happy-go-lucky man that he is has revised his decision of individual gifting at the wedding of Geeta Sardhana’s daughter this weekend. He announced yesterday that in the fitness of things, we should be making a “joint presentation of cash” from the Club since the "Club as a whole has been invited to the wedding".
Tara Chand Seth promptly fished out Rs 200 as his share, but all others who endorsed the idea yesterday, turned ambivalent today. Some claim to have been “personally” invited by Geeta while many want to be excused because of prior engagements. But by and large, they would all want to wait and watch instead of closing their options right now.
Renu Babani's PIC SPEAK:
* Did you hear about... and the one about... and yea, that was so funny I tell you. Forget everything, see those ladies at the back. Wonder what they are talking about?
* I can't seem to find anything amusing in all this!
Srichand Arora:
Bhaswati-ji, please take care of your health. I wish you all the best and recovery soonest. We really want you to be fully fit in our group of the Laughter Club.
Harish Wadhwa:
* Get well soooon Bhaswati-ji. It will be tough to bottle the gossip for so long and we need you here to let it flow. Jokes apart, take care of your health. Bose-babu, please do a lot of patni seva, so that she returns promptly to her daily routine.
* Arora-ji, where have you been hiding? Putra-prem mein hamein mut bhool jana. Unko bhi Garden mein le ke aana.