Wicked Humour

Everybody wants a piece of Ram Shankar Shukla (seated)

Ram Shankar Shukla came to the Garden badly bruised. He was unshaven, the right side of his face grotesquely swollen with splotches of black caused by blood clots under the skin. “I fell down and hurt myself,” he said, his voice feeble.
He did not elaborate further because the exercises were on. But all eyes were on him as he folded his lanky frame into a plastic chair and stretched his legs. He was obviously still in pain. This was not the first time the 80-year-old had fallen or hurt himself accidentally. “He should not take the risk of coming here on his own in this condition,” Srichand Arora said out of concern.
No sooner were the exercises over than everybody converged upon him wanting to know what had happened. The ladies were particularly worried. Haltingly, Shukla explained that the day-before-yesterday at night, he had fallen from the bed during his sleep and started bleeding profusely from the nose. But for some reason, he did not call the doctor.
To the men standing around, desperately trying to catch every word he spoke, none of this made any sense.

Mallika Kagzi treats us to nankhatai (and other goodies)

Somebody said Shukla was sleeping on the floor ("as he usually does") and mysteriously landed on top of the bed with a loud thud. “But who was with him?” Bijoy Gupta desperately wanted to know. He edged his way upfront and asked Shukla, “How come nothing happened to your girlfriend?”
“Arrey, there was no girlfriend… I simply rolled off my bed at night and woke up on the floor.”
Again Gupta was foxed. He pointed at Sitaram Hivarkar, saying that he was of the same age as Shukla: “Sitaram also goes to sleep every night but he does not roll off his bed. How come you managed to fall and hurt yourself?”
The ongoing banter kept Shukla in good spirits, at least for the time he was with us. And adding to the merry-making was Mallika Kagzi, who had just returned from Surat with loads of nankhatai as always. She passed around samosa-pao also followed by tea to celebrate the discharge of her elderly jeth (husband’s elder brother) after six months of intensive care in a Surat hospital. Dr Moin Kagzi, she says, is now in good health and would soon resume normal activity.
Bihari Milwani:
This is called commitment -- even addiction. In spite of all odds, Mr Shukla came to meet us in morning, ready for the exercises. Hats off to him!
Bhaswati Bose:
Mr Shukla was actually sleeping on the floor. In the night he got up, wanted to stand, lost his balance and fell on his right side across the floor. That is how he got hurt. It had nothing to do with falling from the bed.