Tit for Tat

The only male among females

Santosh Tyagi, Mallika Kagzi and Sunita Jajodia constitute a trinity. Not only are they of approximately the same height and build, they share the same cares and concerns – health, daughters-in-law, recipes for the day's cooking, Bijoy Gupta and so on. The three would invariably be the earliest to arrive at the Garden, but the only time they get to discuss their issues is during the exercises – not before, not after. And Srichand Arora does not like that.
He has time and again interrupted their conversation, reprimanded them for being inattentive, tried his best to ensure that they do not stand next to one another and talk, but all to no effect. So this morning, he did the unimaginable. Abruptly, in the middle of the exercises, he strode up to the trio and stood in between them. It was so sudden that Sunita thought he was charging at her and instinctively took to her heels.
Arora had broken the group and stopped the talk, but others were not sparing.

The only female among the men

“How sad, the ladies have held a nabalak captive,” Razia Khan commented sarcastically. “They have not captured anybody, the balak has offered himself as their captive,” Tara Chand Seth corrected her. “Let him remain there!” Seeing so many tongues wagging, Arora had to beat a hasty retreat to save himself further embarrassment.
But he was hardly at peace. Next to him, Jagmohan Papneja was full of questions today and every time Arora answered out of politeness, the ladies picked on him. He tried to explain that he was not talking any nonsense, but nobody was listening. Clearly, Mallika was out to pay Arora back in his coin. And sure enough, when he was deep in conversation with Jagmohan, she came bounding towards them. It was Arora’s turn to flee. Mallika plonked herself between the two men and the exercises continued peacefully thereafter. More importantly, the scores had been leveled.
Out of such innocuous, if mindless capers, we derive our daily dose of entertainment.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Indian curry cannot be relished without spices. Similarly, our morning session of laughter cannot be entertaining without interruptions from the ladies. Arora-ji has been chiding them off and on, but to no effect. Let us continue with this hide-and-seek game because it adds mirch-masala and makes the whole morning enjoyable.