Monsoon Exits

Why are they pointing fingers?

After playing havoc for three months, the monsoon appears to be finally exiting Mumbai. It hasn’t rained at all since the beginning of this week. In fact, today was the third day in a row we could exercise out in the open without having to look up at the sky. And with the grass in the Garden neatly cropped, this was no small pleasure.
Funnily, the weather seems to have a direct bearing on our mood during the exercises. Those who hadn’t noticed it now realize that for the time we were confined to the China Hut

Fehmida Khan

(because of the dark, ominous clouds hanging overhead or an unending downpour) the mood inside used to be uniformly claustrophobic, dull and unusually somber. No sooner the sun peeps out than faces automatically light up, lethargy disappears and everybody would be brimming with energy and mischief.
The same sense of being liberated pervaded today’s hour-long session. Punctuated by wanton banter – cut short by sharp orders to 'shut up' – and provocative one-liners, the exercises were wrapped up in what seemed to be less than half an hour. Time flies when the mood is upbeat.
Siba Prasad Maitra was there, as usual adding cheer. Swati Punjabi was also there, as usual getting into everybody’s way. Even Fehmida Khan was there, making an appearance after almost three months. (Sadly, her husband has not been keeping well.) Mumtaz Jahan raised a ruckus on “undue restrictions” to her freedom of speech and had to consoled by Arun Patil on the one hand and provoked by Mallika Kagzi on the other…
And thus did we celebrate the departure of this year's monsoon.