Breakfast Fiesta

Swati Punjabi cuts the birthday cake

We’ve done it all, had it all – from lip smacking sweets and delicacies to scrumptious crunchies and fries to take-your-pick luddoos and barfis to wholesome keema-pao meals and Vyanjan food boxes... and just when we thought that morning treats cannot get any better, Swati Punjabi came up with a veritable breakfast fiesta – potato mash, chhole, puris, dhokla and so on, all served on a platter and to be washed down with glasses of refreshing chhaas.
That today’s weather was unusually benign with a light cloud cover

Yusuf Rassiwala presents Swati the club calendar

and gentle breeze wafting across added to the festive atmosphere in the Garden.
Swati had a full house for her birthday bash this morning. She was supposed to celebrate at Juhu Beach (ref post of May 19), but a last-minute 'change of plans' ensured we be better grounded in the Garden. We went through the standard rituals – raising the fourth laughter, cutting the birthday cake and singing the birthday song to raucous cheering and applause. Yusuf Rassiwala presented the birthday girl with her club calendar while Kajal Babani did the honours of smearing splotches of white cake cream on Swati’s cheeks.

Cleaning up after the birthday bash

And then the cans and bags of goodies were opened one by one!
Swati was up all night to have the stuff ready for us by the morning. “I have been by the gas stove from 3:30 a.m.,” she confessed, looking a tad tired. “But that’s all very fine since everybody enjoyed my cooking. That’s been my biggest birthday reward.”
Amid all the burping and bonhomie, sudden panic gripped us. Ram Shankar Shukla had gone missing. Around 9:00 a.m., the first call came from his grand-daughter saying he was yet to return home. The family was under the mistaken impression we were still partying at Juhu Beach.
Discreetly search teams fanned out to areas where Shukla had been sighted earlier. Nahid Khan stayed put in the Garden, coordinating with the watchman, in turn stationed near the public toilets. The general fear was that Shukla had lost his way, or worse, met with an accident. After all, the 81-year-old (who celebrated his birthday last Monday) tends to lose his balance while walking and had once fallen down on the streets, hurting himself.
At 9:50 a.m., the suspense was lifted with word coming in of Shukla returning home safe and sound. He had paid a visit to the local post office!
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
The secret is out of the bag. Now we know how the members of Big Laaf remain happy, naughty and knotty as well. The cookies, keema, Vayanjan and other treats, especially after the fourth big laugh, do the trick. Keep laughing and remain fit. It is a good tonic.