'Banana-na Party'

Exercises continue as usual before...

Ram Shankar Shukla celebrates with bananas 

There was no escape for Ram Shankar Shukla today. Buckling under the pressure of friends and foes, he had to treat everyone to bananas (yes, bananas) in order to celebrate the recovery of his ‘lost’ wallet on the trip to Lonavala last Saturday.
Surprisingly though, Shukla shied away from uttering the word 'banana' (or its Hindi equivalent 'kela') and instead, for some strange reason, disguised it by saying “banana-na party”. Some red-faced members tried to quibble on bana-na-na and ba-na-na-na-na... but not uttering kela. Ved Prakash Grover even announced that “Shukla-ji would like to throw a fruit party”, making things all the more obvious.
Tara Chand Seth appeared most amused by this verbal jugglery, though pretending not to have heard right. “Fruit party? Leh, we were under the impression that Shukla-ji was busy at home for the past two days preparing luddoos for us. And this is what we get,” he quipped, waving a large yellow banana.
But then, most members agreed that the bananas were a better and healthier option than the assorted sweets and fried stuff routinely distributed after the exercises. Harish Wadhwa, who had come in with an additional bunch of bananas, offered to share his, should Shukla’s fall short!
Jokes apart, Shukla said he was much relieved at having found his wallet, which he had all but given up on. “It was lying hidden among my clothes in the deep recesses of the side bag I was carrying that day,” he narrated. “But more than the money, I was worried about my personal papers and the cards I had kept securely in my wallet. Had I really lost them, it would be near impossible for me to obtain duplicates and replacements in my lifetime.”
Well, all’s well that ends in banana-nas!
Harish Wadhwa:
I can see everyone going bananas over the 'fruit party' as they appear to inhale the aroma of ripe bananas (LOL)! Some have also shut their eyes, imagining their good looks. Thank you, Shukla-ji, for ba-na-oing our morning!