Cold Wave

Srichand Arora

Yusuf Rassiwala

As papers had predicted, the cold wave persisted this morning – though there was not so much of the wind chill as yesterday. Yet, woolens were out in greater numbers and attendance dropped still further. Apart from Shekhawat and Jagmohan Papneja who are still unwell, many like Ram Shankar Shukla, Rukshana Khan, Bijoy Gupta and Kiran Makharia took the day off. Others like Tara Chand Seth turned up late.
Yusuf Rassiwala had proposed that instead of starting the exercises at 7:00 a.m. sharp, we should now shift the timing by half an hour, to 7:30 a.m. for the winter months. This was for health reasons as overnight pollutants remain suspended in the air during the cold weather and we risk inhaling them early morning. As the ground air warms up with sunshine, the suspended particulate matter tends to dissipate into the atmosphere. How much of pure air would we breathe in with a half-hour delay is however, debatable. Medical experts opine that in Mumbai the air cannot be free of overnight pollutants before 11:00 a.m. and in a construction intensive area like Lokhandwala, it would be safer to set out for exercises/ walks after 4:00 in the evening.
Srichand Arora came up with another argument. He said that starting out late by half-an-hour would mean ending the exercises half-an-hour late.

Prakash is 'capped' by Grover

Sunita Jajodia caps Shiela

This will severely disrupt the routine of the ladies many of who have to prepare breakfast and pack lunch for office-going family members. There are also some male members who must report to work by 10:00 a.m. Any delay shall inconvenience them. Nonetheless, it would be better to seek majority opinion on this issue, he suggested.
Meanwhile, the Club formally inducted Kiran Prakash and Shiela Mirani, who had started exercising with us around the same time. They have been fairly regular and all members have taken to them very cordially. While Ved Prakash Grover ‘crowned’ his namesake with the blue Club cap, Sunita Jajodia did the honors for Shiela.
Harish Wadhwa:
Folks are doing what most Indians have it in their genes: The act of topi pehnana! LOL