Birthday Story

Pushpa gets her birthday bite from hubby Bijoy Gupta

Yesterday was Pushpa Gupta’s birthday. But she celebrated it today, on purpose. She came in late with husband Bijoy in tow and only upon spotting Shekhawat, did she confirm her order for snacks boxes with Vyanjan on phone. Clearly, had Shekhawat not been present, we would have been deprived of Pushpa’s birthday treat. It just confirmed a sneaky suspicion some of us had and thereby hangs a tale.
Shekhawat did not turn up yesterday. It seems he had a house warming ceremony somewhere to attend and gave the Garden a skip.

Shekhawat has the last laugh

Given his Peter Pan nature, he decided that since he would not be party to Pushpa’s birthday celebration, nobody should partake in her treat. After all, she happens to be his one-time saali!
So unknown to us, he called Pushpa up and managed to dissuade her from celebrating her birthday yesterday.

Celebration continues over hot tea

As per convention, we raised the fourth laugh after the exercises and waited in vain for the birthday girl to show up – only to return home disappointed. The joke was on us.
Now Shekhawat denies having made that call to Pushpa. He initially feigned ignorance when some of us confronted him early morning. “She was the one to call,” he remarked later, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “She wanted to know the turnout for the exercises these days and accordingly she would place her order for the snack boxes. I told her she must account for a minimum of 25 and that in any case, I would not be present in the Garden on Friday. This was all that happened.”
The sub-text is all too clear – more so, when Pushpa neither confirmed nor denied the story. A wink and a smile from her spoke louder than words.
Dilip Babani:
Happy Birthday, Pushpa-ji!
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali)
The story behind the belated birthday celebration shows the popularity Mr Shekhawat enjoys in our Big Laaf club. Good wishes to both Pushpa-ji and Shekhawat-ji.