Rapid Fire

How fast is too fast?

New spins to the Bangkok-Pattaya trip?

After conducting exercises for five years, Razia Khan is suddenly at her wits’ end. Jagmohan Papneja (among others) finds her inexorably slow. Sitaram Hivarkar and a few old-timers find her too fast and want her to slow down. Arch rival Nahid Khan isn’t quite sure and confuses Razia even more by alternately praising and putting her down. Inevitably, Razia is left wondering ‘how fast is too fast’ and ‘how slow is too slow’.
But then, this lady is nobody’s fool. She knows exactly how to pace the exercises to suit whom and when. So today, when she saw Khatoon Baig coming, she abruptly stepped up the pace, knowing well that the latter would run out of breath and protest. Sure enough, she began cribbing: “Why is she going so fast?” That was not all. Razia kept issuing instructions in rapid fire -- “Now neck up, neck down, then left, then right, then clockwise, anti-clockwise…” all without a pause as if there’s no tomorrow. Poor Khatoon, she soon gave up and stood frozen to the ground!
Such things happen with group dynamics. There’s no way the pace of exercises can be regulated and sooner than later, we get to recognize and adapt to every instructor’s style. Nahid, being the longest running and consistent ‘teacher’, has set some sort of a benchmark and everyone else is regarded as ‘faster’ or ‘slower’ than her. Yusuf Rassiwala, for instance, is taken to be a slow coach while Ramila Mistry is seen as an express train. But independently, everyone is good in his/her own way and should anyone have any complaint, it is purely for entertainment.
Incidentally, Ramila gave a new spin to the Bangkok-Pattaya tour (yesterday’s post) by informing that a travel agent she knew is offering one free ticket for every 20 bookings from the Club. Well, Thomas Cook is known to offer one free ticket with every group booking of five. With Shekhawat targeting a group of 30, we should end up with at least half-a-dozen complimentary tickets. But at what price, that is the question.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Is exercising fast better or is slow stronger? Develop a strong mental attitude for slow and steady exercise. This will be easy for everyone.