Star Attraction

Akshat Choudhary sets the pace for Shekhawat and Mohar Singh

Six-year-old Akshat Choudhary is today the cynosure of all eyes in the Club – his popularity far exceeding that of Shekhawat, Mallika Kagzi or Srichand Arora. Over the past 10 days -- since he first made an appearance at the Garden with his father and grandparents -- he has proved to be both regular and punctual to a fault, extremely easy going, quick on the uptake, self-driven and disciplined, obedient, respectful towards elders… in short, everything every child ought to be.
So when he was late for the exercises this morning, at least a dozen queries went out on whether all was well with him and if anybody knew whether he would be coming at all. The look of joy and relief on everyone’s faces when he turned up and took his position in the exercise circle was an indication

Bhaswati Bose (l) returns from Dibrugarh

of how he was being missed. And when he lost his balance and fell during the 'kissa kursi ka' exercise, many hearts skipped a beat. Luckily his father was close-by and he promptly whisked the sobbing boy away.
What makes Akshat so special? How could he become such a star attraction at the Garden so soon? Why does he merit a full blog post for the second time in less than five days?
Well, kids have been dropping by during our exercises, some invited, some not… but no one has ever made an impact the way Akshat has. Many of the kids were grandchildren of members -- brought in during birthdays or on special occasions – as did Monthi Serrao, Santosh Tyagi, Sunita Jajodia and Nahid Khan in the past. Those were more in the nature of fleeting visits or guest appearances, only to be forgotten the following day. But then, nobody can be blamed for this -- least of all, the kids.
Akshat is the first child we know who has no qualms suffering oldies like us and if his father is to be believed, actually enjoys this experience first thing in the morning every day. We too love his company, because it can only make us feel so much more young. And the fact that we have been meeting him every morning without fail has effectively strengthened our bonding.
It therefore comes as no surprise that Monthi would now be bringing her grandson, Tian more regularly to the Garden. Or so has she promised. And soon, for all we know, all the other grandkids would follow suit.
Harish Wadhwa:
Nice to see you back, Bhaswati-ji. Hope your mother is on the road to recovery and that she gets back to normalcy soon. May God bless her.