Morning Madness

Another delightful Saturday morning with Tara Chand Seth earning the sobriquet of “Rajdhani Express”. Kishor Babani gave him this name while comparing his brisk pace of walk (round the Garden) with that of another octogenarian, Hari Naraiyani. The latter became “Gareeb Rath” while the rest of us, by impli-cation, were "Andheri locals" – stopping and starting at every station!
This effectively was to define the mood of the morning – what with an over-gregarious Yusuf Rassiwala in the middle allowing everybody to take liberties during the exercises. He himself was in a mischievous mood as he explained his occasional distractions to “beautiful things” passing by. “When you see beauty, your eyes get an extra sparkle,” he reasoned aloud. “When you see a beautiful girl, you ruin your eyes!” retorted Kishor.
That was not all. While the Laughter Round was on, Shekhawat initiated what may soon become standard practice – clapping and converging in the middle and then withdrawing to the circle. Today he had six or seven men joining him in this charming display of calisthenics with women like Razia Khan also trying to match steps.
This “leher pe leher” (Shekhawat’s words) was to extend to the three laughs after the exercises – and an extra one today for Kajal Babani’s birthday. Instead of following this with the usual round of 108 claps, everybody broke into an impromptu Happy Birthday chorus for the “Baby of the Club” (Yusuf’s words) till Harish Wadhwa started clapping from the count of 64 and the men followed. The ladies, led by Yusuf, started their claps from the start, only to add to the chaos and confusion.
The hilarity culminated at the Chinese Hut where the birthday girl and her husband, Dilip Babani (pics above) hosted a lavish treat for all members.
Harish Wadhwa:
You see we were being fair in counting, else our Santosh-ji (who holds this patent) would have got late for "work". We had clapped 64 times, while singing Happy Birthday and therefore it was logical to extend the count then, from 64 to 108. But then, while all men finished the counting and were busy greeting Give me-10s, Yusuf-bhai was seen doing the same with the ladies? Yusuf-bhai, you cannot change sides like this and be extra nice to the ladies!
Bhaswati Bose:
Many Happy Returns of the Day, Kajal. Sorry, I couldn't wish you in person this morning. Thanks for sending my share of samosas. Have a great time and light all the candles on your cake now. I have already alerted the Fire Brigade! LOL.