‘All Gents Day’

Where have the ladies disappeared?

Monthi Serrao has a keen, observant eye. She came in halfway through the exercises and marked her presence with a cryptic remark: “What’s this, an all-gent’s day?” Until then we did not realise that of the 14 of us, 12 were men. Nahid Khan (who, in any case, is hardly taken as a woman) and Sunita Jajodia were the only women around.
No wonder there was complete order and silence during the exercises. Sunita, a known chatterbox, had no one to talk to (since Nahid was in the middle), even as Arora egged her on to shoot her mouth. “Between each exercise, you are free to talk,” he urged her. “Why, I also talk…” But Sunita kept her counsel and quite simply held her tongue.
Before the exercises started, Sunita had summoned Arora in the China Hut and privately grilled him on his background. What does he do now? Does he eat mutton-machchi? In which city had he grown up? Was he into business or did he hold a job? Arora kept answering truthfully, till it suddenly dawned on him that Sunita’s questions stemmed from yesterday’s Pehchaan Kaun post. “I thought she was interviewing me for a matrimonial match,” he joked later.

Show of hands for the July 20 picnic

“All my hopes were dashed to the ground!”
However, on a serious note, Arora took over from where Shekhawat left on Saturday (see post of July 13) on the picnic issue. He opened the discussions by declaring that rather than wait till August, we must make the most of the present weather conditions and no matter where we go, we ought to set out on a day picnic at the very earliest. Surprisingly, the proposition was endorsed wholeheartedly by everyone with a show of hands -- some even throwing up both hands in their enthusiasm.
After weighing all options, the common consensus was that it would not be Royal Resort, not Water Kingdom, not Tikujini Wadi… but Lonavala and the day decided was the coming Saturday, July 20. “Whoever comes, comes but the date will not be changed,” Sunita announced. “We will go, even if it comes to hiring a mini van.” At Monthi’s suggestion, it was also decided that we would all wear black pants and white T-shirts/ tops with the club cap. Sunita had an obvious problem, which Monthi promptly resolved. “Okay, you may come in a white sari and black blouse!” she proffered.