Ghost Story

Jagmohan Papneja distributes Shirdi Sai Baba's prasad 

Jagmohan Papneja today bailed out Razia Khan (see yesterday’s post) with two boxes of luddoos and pedas from Shirdi. It was no party, but a wonderful treat nonetheless. That he had thought of us and brought the prasad all the way from the Sai Baba shrine was by itself no small blessing.
What however kept the laughter flowing all morning was the ghost story Bhaswati Bose had to narrate. Yesterday, on her way from the Garden, she picked a kilo of apples and returned home, only to find the fruit bowl on her dining table already full with apples.

Yusuf Rassiwala checks on Sunita's health

She swears the bowl was empty when she had left home. So where did those seven big apples come from?
Nobody entered the house during her absence because she alone had the keys. (The neighbors keep a duplicate set, but they were away to Kashmir on a holiday.) And her husband would be the last person ever to buy apples. Besides, he did not have the keys to the apartment.
Always on the lookout for something sensational, the ladies simply took off on Bhaswati. One after another, they grilled her and conspiracy theories followed – ranging from suggestions of dementia to the possibility of super-natural phenomena. Monthi Serrao was convinced it had to be the husband’s mischief and that he had ‘somehow’ smuggled in the apples the previous night and hidden them.

Animated discussions on the mysterious apples

Some even suggested that the husband was trying to prove Bhaswati ‘insane’ so that he could obtain a divorce – a theory Geeta Sardana endorsed fully.
Soon the men joined in to resolve the whodunit. Ved Prakash Grover suggested the apples be distributed in the Garden, but when told those were ultra-sweet apples unlike anything sold in Mumbai, he developed second thoughts. Shekhawat, with his experience of chudails, declared it was the handiwork of a bhootni and the apples best be left uneaten. Bhaswati herself recalled a Ramgopal Varma film when mangoes keep piling up in a fridge mysteriously.
Meanwhile, Sunita Jajodia registered her presence in the Garden by exercising from a chair while seated next to Shekhawat. She is fast recovering from her gallstone operation last week. Shekhawat too appears to have recovered from his bypass surgery and for the first time since April 12, 2013 joined our circle for the second laughter round. Ghano Chokho-Ghano Chokho… Wah!
Jagmohan Papneja:
There are only two ways to look at Mrs Bose's ghost story. One, this is a case of failing memory. The other is that there has been a miracle!