In Drag!

Razia Khan tutors Arun Patil

A tragic situation was given a comic twist in a way only Big Laaf can. With five days still to go for the South India tour (November 24 to December 3) and the possibility of drop-outs looming large (ref yesterday’s post), Arun Patil was today approached for moving in at short notice should the need arise. Being a non-family man and by nature extremely cooperative, he looked to be the only guy around with minimum hassles – barring the prosthetic leg (he wears for his amputated foot).
Arun was frank enough to say that he would be glad to go on any tour any time, provided he is given a separate room to himself in the hotel. “I cannot share my room with anybody,” he explained.

Karuna Waghmare (in red shoes) does a Meena Kumari  

“I am an acute diabetic and cannot hold my urine. The moment I get the urge, I should be able to relieve myself instantly. I cannot hold myself even to strap my leg on, find my walker, unzip my trousers or pajamas and so on. Chances are I’d wet the place there and then. Tell me who would want to stay in a room with such a person?”
“But you mustn’t wear pants or pajamas with drawstrings,” advised Razia Khan, eager to help.

It's party time!

“Maybe, you should start wearing lungis.”
“No-no-no… never,” Yusuf Rassiwala interjected. “Lungis are notorious for letting you down. You can never trust lungis.”
With Fehmida Khan and Mallika Kagzi joining in, the discussion veered towards tailored lungis with elastic waist bands. “Then why not wear a petticoat, plain and simple?” Razia suggested.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” Arun confessed.

Fehmida Khan comes with her husband of 42 years

“Since changing clothes is such a big chore and there’s no one around to assist me, why shouldn’t I practice wearing petticoats at home?”
“I have a better idea,” Razia’s face brightened up. “I’ll get you a frock. That way your upper part will also be covered. Believe me, you will look beautiful…”
Meanwhile there was Karuna Waghmare regaling a select audience with her inimitable stop-start style of singing ‘boat songs’ which, she said, ought to be sung at Ooty Lake when the group gets there. The best rendition was of Ajeeb dastan hai yeh (from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, 1960) with Karuna doing a Meena Kumari on a rocking boat amid rousing laughter.
In between, Fehmida brought her husband along (in what seemed to be in response to the blog post yesterday) to continue with her wedding anniversary celebrations. Today, there were crispy maththis with hot-hot tea and of course, lots of joy, warmth and happiness to go along.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd) from Mohali:
We Indians are famous for giving unsolicited advice. Let me also give some free advice. This pertains to the treatment of diabetes, urine retention, paralytic attack, etc. It is based on the fact that all diseases emanate from/ through our spinal chord. Under this system of Korean therapy the patient has to lie on a bed on which an electrically operated roller has been fixed. The spinal chord is massaged and thermal heat is used for the purpose. Nuga Best is a Korean Co. which has started this system. It has centres in about 100 countries. The treatment is free of charge. I am aware of a few cases where diabetic patients have shown remarkable improvement. Those who were on dialysis have also improved. The centres are running in Mumbai as well. One such is at Sai Complex, Western Express Highway, Kandivali East and the telephone numbers are 64223668 and 9022308363. Those affected may want to try this out.