All in the Family

Arun Patil

Mallika Kagzi

Ruksana Khan

Today Ruksana Khan was formally introduced to the Club as daughter of Mallika Kagzi. Shekhawat courteously folded his hands and did a polite ‘namaste’, but Bijoy Kumar Gupta was not convinced. “Who is mother and who is whose daughter?” he remarked sarcastically only to be told to shut up and mind his own business. He wasn’t giving up though. He keenly observed Mallika fussing about with her daughter and at one point, struck a kung fu pose, offering to banish all of Ruksana’s arthritis problems.

Bijoy Kumar Gupta

“Ehh, I told you to hold your tongue,” Mallika warned him. “Zabaan sambhaal!”
That Mallika has the habit of chaperoning women around like a Mother Hen has not gone unnoticed. Small wonder, Arun Patil had begun addressing her as “Maiyya” (mother) till one day she lost her cool. “Hey, who are you to call me Maiyya?” she demanded in front of everyone. “Just lift your cap.”

Jagmohan Papneja is on his way to Delhi

Arun obediently did so, exposing a forest of white hair.
“Look at your head and look at mine,” she thundered. “You still want to call me Maiyya? You are my Baap!”
Arun beat a hasty retreat, cleverly avoiding any further confrontation. But since that day, he has reconciled to being addressed as “Daddy”. And after today’s dispensation, he must also accept that he is not only Mallika’s father, but by extension, Ruksana is his grand-daughter. It is entirely another matter that he is the youngest of the three. Ruksana is the oldest and age-wise, Mallika falls somewhere in between.
On this note, Jagmohan Papneja took leave for a vacation in Delhi. It is a family reunion, he says and that he will be spending time there in five-star luxury for the next few days. Surely, this man is going places. He will be back next Monday.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Mallika Kagzi and Ruksana Khan have adopted each other as mother and daughter because they are comfortable in this relationship. They find emotional support in one another.