Funny Exercise

DIFFERENT STROKES: Awakening the 'sleepy brain' early morning 

The other day Banoo Apa cracked an unintended joke which got everyone reeling in laughter: “Knock your heads harder and more numbers would tumble out!”
We were in the midst of the Chinese exercises – at a point when we had to drub our heads with our fingers to the count of 36. That this was needed to be done in three stages of 9 + 1 each with an additional six at the end had prompted Banoo to make the remark. It simply proved that our brains were incapable of keeping count beyond nine and we had to repeat ourselves again and again!
But then, that’s how the Chinese have devised all their exercises and we are not to question why.

Mumtaz Jahan drops by
with her father

What makes for an amusing spectacle though is the manner we have been going about drubbing our heads every morning. From delicate taps to hard knocks and mindless hammering and pounding, everyone has a way of activating the brain. In fact, no two people treat their heads the same way.

Happy Birthday and a long,
healthy life, Neelam Choudhary

Each has a style of his own.
Shekhawat hits his head with his finger tips as if it is some kind of tabla (rather ghatam) while Srichand Arora gently taps on like it is a fragile object about to break or burst. Lt Col Angad Singh vigorously drums his fingers front and back, Tara Chand beats the hell all around while Sardar Teja Singh daintily feels the sides of his turban and Bihari Milwani plays around his scalp as though he’s adjusting a wig. (By the way, he is enormously blessed with natural hair on his head, and elsewhere!)
The ladies are no less innovative. Mallika Kagzi will rarely be seen letting go of her head – she’d hold it so hard lest it fly off. Qadir Bano is even more careful, as she pulls her cap down to eye level as an added precaution. But Razia Khan is carefree and like Shekhawat, enjoys thumping and tapping about on rhythm. Bhaswati Bose couldn’t care less whether her head remains in one piece or turns 360 degrees, whereas for Santosh Tyagi, this is more of a meditative exercise, done at her own pace and pleasure.
In all this, one thing has become eminently clear: Nobody really knows how to correctly drum the head.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
* It was nice to see Mumtaz Jahan's father -- an octogenarian in good health. He does not have any ailment, not even high blood pressure, which is quite common these days. One certainly admires how the older generation is keeping healthy and fit. Mumtaz is certainly proud of her parents. May God keep them healthy for a long time.
* We celebrated the birthday of Mrs Choudhary in absentia. The family has not been coming for quite sometime. Perhaps they feel injured. Every day we start the morning session on a positive note. It keeps everyone happy and stimulated through the day. The Choudhary family should be forgiving and forgetting some odd incident which has kept them away. This will bring them more joy and spread happiness, compassion and love among other members of the club. Spreading happiness makes you feel contented in life.