Wit and Raillery

Ram Shankar Shukla

The Club today heaved a collective sigh of relief when Ram Shankar Shukla surfaced in the China Hut. Nattily dressed in crimson polo shirt with steel grey trousers to match, the gangly 79-year-old presented a delightful contrast to what we had seen of him last on his birthday (ref: post of May 29). He was in miserable shape then. Ever since, there have been anxious inquires all around and as he was not taking calls on his mobile, concern about his health had only been mounting.

Santosh Tyagi takes a dig at Shukla

Jagmohan Papneja is in full flow

Shekhawat was clearly overjoyed on having his dear ‘Gurukul’ (that’s one of many names Shukla has earned in the Club) back and out of excitement, announced how his panacea-for-all-ills has worked. “I had advised him to take three stiff pegs of whiskey every night before going to bed and now, look at him. He is so fit and fine, raring to go!”
“You can give such advice to others, but not to your own people,” Sunita Jajodia snapped. “Let’s see you giving the same advice to your wife!”
“Shekhawat cures other people’s wives, not his wife,” Jagmohan Papneja reminded her, promptly triggering a roar of laughter.
“Doctors are supposed to prescribe medicines for others, not for themselves,” Santosh Tyagi pointed out in mock seriousness.
By then Shekhawat and Shukla were red in the face, enjoying the jibes at their expense. “Has anybody known a thief who steals from his own house?” quipped Papneja.
The lighthearted banter continued unabated with Shekhawat maintaining that only whiskey can save the human race from disease and destruction and Papneja interrupting the exercises with wisecracks like “Hai mera whiskey!”, “Kissa Kursi Ka, Doosra peg!”, “Nachh Baliye, Teesra peg!” Shekhawat was to eventually have his way, clapping solo to “Daru piyo, Daru piyo, Hey!!!” The unbridled raillery did not stop there. Santosh took a pointed dig at Shukla (of course, upon taking his permission) by narrating a joke about baldies and with Papneja joining in to add spice, the ongoing hilarity had to be terminated because we could not take it any more. Even for a laughter club, we had had our fill for the day and it was decided to save some laughter for the future.
All through, Shukla quietly chortled to himself, not talking much. It would take some more time for him to recover fully – whiskey or no-whiskey.