Turning 81

Birthday Boy, RAM SHANKAR SHUKLA (in dark tee) surrounded by friends and admirers

Another one of us has stepped into the eighties. Ram Shankar Shukla turned 81 yesterday and today, together with his daughter and grand-daughter, celebrated the landmark event of his life with us in the Garden. In effect, Shukla now joins the elite company of two other octogenarians of the Club – Lt Col Angad Singh (retd) and Tara Chand Seth.
“He is not much older to me,” Shekhawat piped in, playfully trying to undermine the importance of the occasion.

Shekhawat (in red) rejoices with Shukla

Shukla distributes Vyanjan packets

“Just five years, that’s all,” he added.
Shukla is a retired officer from the Madhya Pradesh government and till recently, led a fairly active life travelling up and down to Kanpur where his daughter resides. In Mumbai, he runs a chain of coaching classes, thus giving rise to the nickname, 'Gurukul' (from a private joke he shares with Shekhawat).
Clearly, Shukla and Shekhawat go back a long way and they are the only ones to take liberties with each other. To the rest of us, Shukla has always been the Club’s tallest figure we quite literally look up to. Even today, as he distributed an assortment of savouries from Vyanjan, he stood tall, ramrod straight, towering over the rest of us.
Once again, we wish him much happiness, good health and of course many, many more birthdays with us in the Garden.
Bihari Milwani:
A coincidence: Yesterday Col Angad Singh turned 30,000 days young. We missed him and worse, missed wishing him -- thanks to my poor memory.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It is nice to learn that the strength of super-senior citizens has increased, the latest addition being Shukla-ji. We rejoice his coming of age! We wish him good health and a joyful life. Keep laughing and you will enjoy the benefits of good health.