Limping Back

Dilip Babani explains why deer is the most clever animal

Just as things were limping back to normalcy, it rained heavily in the morning. Most of the regulars, including Arun Patil, Rukhsana Khan, Kiran Prakash, Santosh Tyagi and Geeta Latte could not make it to the Garden. The turnout was no more than 20 today.
Yet, that had scarcely dampened our spirits. For once, Mumtaz Jahan made an early appearance.

Karuna Waghmare

So did Karuna Waghmare, unusually perky and talkative all through the exercises. At one point she started counting aloud on her own in English to the utter confusion of those around her. At another point, she picked on a lady wearing a black top and addressed her as "Black Tiger". When she was told that no such animal exists, Waghmare (which literally means ‘tiger killer’) retorted confidently that black tigers can be found abroad.

Dhruv (seated) is much amused

“They are imported tigers,” she told the black-top lady matter-of-factly. “So that makes you a foreigner, not an Indian!”
The other bright spot of the morning was the visit of Dhruv Khadaria and his young yoga trainer friend, Abhishek Mistry. Dhruv happens to be the son of Chanda Khadaria, the newest entrant in Big Laaf. So amused was the boy by our laughter exercises that he simply could not hold himself from laughing his head off, much to his mother’s consternation.

Mumtaz wishes Zarina Khan (r) bon voyage

He now wants to join us for the exercises on a regular basis.
If that were not enough, Dilip Babani added to the merriment with a few off-the-cuff jokes. The one that got him the loudest laafs was when he tried to justify why the deer is the most ‘clever’ animal on earth. “In satya-yug, it got Lord Ram into trouble; now, in kal-yug, it has got Salman Khan into deep trouble.”
Earlier in the morning, Zarina Khan said her good-byes as she sets out on Hajj pilgrimage (scheduled between September 9 and 14). Today was her last day at the Garden before she boards the flight to Mecca and to celebrate the occasion, she distributed truffles among all present. We wished her bon voyage and asked her to pray for us as well.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It is commendable that despite heavy rains, the members are turning up for their laughter session. This shows how much interest they take in the exercises which is quite rejuvenating. Good show. Keep it up and God bless you all.