Signature Campaign

Monthi Serrao can be quite funny at times, without really intending to. She gave us a glimpse of her inborn sense of humour when Shekhawat, soon after the exercises, got everybody together and took off on an extended homily about the goodness of a Garden watchman, one Ram Dev – his dedication to duty, total honesty, how trustworthy he is...
“Toh?” interrupted Monthi.
“Kehne ka matlab, it is hard to find such good people these days,” continued Shekhawat and to illustrate his point, narrated an incident of how a lady had forgotten her purse containing Rs5,000 in the Garden and the watchman helped her find it and did not accept anything in return. “That man has been fired,” said Shekhawat with dramatic flourish.
“Toh humein abhi kya karney ka?” insisted Monthi, getting visibly impatient.
Shekhawat ignored her and went on to explain the circumstances leading to the sacking – how the wife of a gardener was allowed into the Garden to give him his tiffin after closing hours and the manager of Celebration Club, upon seeing her, lost his head and took the watchman to task. “To get him reinstated, we’ll have to make a joint petition to the Celebration Club,” said Shekhawat, handing over a set of papers (above pic) for everybody’s signature.
“Aisa hai kya?” Monthi erupted, realization dawning on her face – only to set off an outburst of laughter all-around. Of course, many members were hardly amused about the turn of events and sympathized with the poor watchman who was sitting quietly near the gate, all alone, unaware of the signature campaign. When he gets to know, he’d realize that we are not just a bunch of scatterbrains who gather in the Garden every morning, only to laugh. Unlike many others, our heart is in the right place.
Renu Babani's PICSPEAK:
"I don't know why is everyone looking at me while I sign. I hope my signature comes out correct, otherwise they will be on my case!"
Harish Wadhwa:
You've rightly said it, Blog Monster -- we are men with a heart. We would like to help someone, in this case the watchman who lost his job for no major reason, as known to us. Anything that affects the very livelihood of a person, should be looked into with sympathy.
It was also nice to see Monthi-ji wishing Rane-saab and others on her arrival, which is usually otherwise the case.
The Badmaash Company today missed its veteran, Arora-ji; but was joined by a new member from Toronto, Kishor-da's relative. Had a great time at Chai.