Red Herrings

Usual Suspects: Ruksana Khan and Mallika Kagzi (left)

Razia Khan brandishes the b&w printout

Confusion reigns supreme as the suspense over the identity of the lady featured in the latest edition of Pehchaan Kaun (ref last Sunday’s post) gets curioser and curioser. Razia Khan took upon herself to unravel the mystery and accosted every likely member with a black-and-white printout of the photograph of the ‘mystery woman’ – even as Bihari Milwani sounded a word of warning, “You cannot even be sure this is a woman!”
Arun Patil sat with the printout to “study” the photograph and after an intricate process of masking with his fingers the forehead, then the eyes, lips and nose came to the conclusion that it had to be Ruksana Khan in her childhood – all because the features bear close resemblance with those of her daughter. Almost immediately, he changed his opinion for Kiran Arora, wife of Srichand Arora. The latter pondered awhile and declared, in his infinite wisdom that “this cannot be the picture of a Mohammedan woman” because she appears to be wearing a mangal sutra.
Meanwhile, Jagmohan Papneja has been harping since yesterday that she is none other than the “lady who serves us tea”. In fact, Mallika Kagzi happens to be the prime suspect along with Ruksana because of their “longish face” though everybody concedes that details like the ears, nose and eyes suggest otherwise. Mallika herself has been protesting that she could never have been “so dark” in her wildest dreams but nobody wants to believe her. In the end, she asked what all this drama was about and Razia had to explain, “Whoever gets to identify the woman correctly will be awarded a trophy from the Club.” Mallika could not believe her ears. “My goodness,” she exclaimed. “You are doing all this, just for one toffee? Are you people out of your mind?”
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
To find out the name of the lady in the picture is a major tease. However, we understand some members are past masters in arriving at the correct answer. Good luck to them. To me, she appears to be Mallika Kagzi. She has two children. Her age at the time of the photo appears to be 18 years.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Of late, scientists have developed a software which supposedly predicts how a childhood photo will look as an adult. This discovery should help in 'missing persons' cases. In view of this development, the Pehchaan Kaun contest will have to undergo some modifications.
Bihari Milwani:
The photo is of Mrs Sheela Mirani. It was taken when she was around 17 years. Her height is 5'6". She has one child.