Festive Fallout

Depleted attendance this morning

Santosh Tyagi (c) and Swati Panjabi (foreground)

With the Dussehra festivities peaking now, the effects of an action-packed week-end were in evidence early morning. Followers of Goddess Durga had gone on a pandal-hopping spree over the past two days while others danced the nights away to garba beats at the many Navratri celebrations in the neighborhood. Some elders spent the Sunday in solemn prayer over Ashtami Puja at home.
Small wonder, when the exercises were to start at 7:00 a.m., there was nobody in the Garden, except for Kanta Sharma. At 7:10 a.m. Khatoon Baig made an appearance. At 7:15 a.m. Arun Patil and Rukhsana Khan walked in. At 7:18 a.m. Nasir Putani Shah marked his presence. Then Swati Panjabi joined in and the exercises could finally take off at 7:20 a.m.
Never before have the exercises been so delayed by 20 minutes, as it was today. Kanta Sharma was openly critical about the “lack of a sense of punctuality” in the Club. But soon, all was forgotten as Geeta Latte, Nahid Khan, Santosh Tyagi, Chanda Khadaria and Karuna Waghmare trickled in. Still, several key members like Yusuf Rassiwala, Kiran Prakash, Bhaswati Bose and Banoo Apa were conspicuous by their absence.
On the up side, those who turned up were rewarded with a double treat of ashtami prasad. This was completely unexpected. Swati Panjabi had brought along suji halwa and chhole and Santosh Tyagi, by a strange coincidence, also brought suji halwa and chhole. Tea was an add-on, thanks to the latter. Given the low turn-out today, everybody had two or three helpings of the delicious combo – apart from generous takeaways for those who wanted to carry some of the prasad home.
Clearly, both Santosh and Swati had a problem of plenty. And when it was all over – after distributing to the milk man and watchman and their brothers – the ladies heaved a sigh of relief. As Swati put it: “Thank God, nothing was wasted!”
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
Whenever you join the exercises, it is never too late. Those who did not join today must be feeling the brunt of missing the special prasad of Ashtami. Blessed are people like Swati Punjabi and Santosh-ji who provided enough prasad!