Tried and Tested

Sitaram Hivarkar

“You do not tell your grandmother how to suck, just as you do not tell your grandfather how to ....” The import of this classic English proverb is becoming increasingly clear as rehearsals warm up for the club’s Annual Day function on January 16.
Mumtaz Jahan today raised a pointed question when Sitaram Hivarkar wanted to sing his favorite Zohra Zabeen number at the function. “But didn’t he sing the same song last year?” she asked no one in particular. Banoo Apa nodded, but neither of them dared to directly ask Sitaram who was sitting right across. After all, how do you ask a veteran of Zohra Zabeen to practice another song at age 77?
Likewise, Kajal and Dilip Babani suggested reintroducing the tried-and-tested antakshari round when Nahid Khan’s idea of staging a play was not leading anywhere. “We had great fun with antakshari last year, didn’t we?” Dilip pointed out. Indeed, this was another comfort zone for our members where hardly any practice is required.

Mallika discusses rates of biryani boxes -- veg and non-veg

We have had many such fun items in the past at our get-togethers, both formal and informal, and the outcome has always been enjoyable.
On the flip side though, these items could also appear jaded and repetitive. So, in our anxiety to provide something fresh and more entertaining, a few options are still being explored – the only problem being that there is not enough time to start practice on anything we have no experience in. Many of us have developed a strong sense of inertia, resulting in a general reluctance to learning new tricks. Moreover, we are all rank amateurs with no prior exposure to professional stagecraft. Significantly though, this is what contributes to all the fun and frolic during the rehearsals.
Simultaneously, at another level, preparations for the eats are in full swing. Mallika Kagzi has been requested to organize the biryani boxes, as she did last time. With Srichand Arora around, the budget for the event was also discussed. He handed over a donation cheque of Rs5,000 received recently from Celebration Club. In short, everything looks hunky dory and we should be having a ball next week-end.