Filling In

Filling the vacuum

Nature abhors a vacuum. So also is it with Big Laaf. The vacuum in the Club created by the recent exodus to Kerala (ref yesterday’s post) is now being filled by an influx of some new and not-so-new faces, appearing out of the blue as though on cue.
For one, there was Arati Bhatt who had gone missing after our Annual Function on September 10. For another, Chanda Khadaria introduced her friend (and neighbor) Nandini for the exercises today. Yet another surprise was former member Neelam Garg (who showed up first with her husband the day-before) exercising with us for the third day in succession.
And then, there was this tallish, bespectacled lady in white we were seeing for the first time who could well be a bird of passage. She stepped in on her own volition and began to exercise without even introducing herself.
That’s all very fine. But the biggest draw of the day was our good old Karuna Waghmare.

Karuna is fed up and shuts her eyes instead of ears

She was apparently in a cranky mood and started out by demanding a mosquito coil in the middle of the exercise circle. “Otherwise I cannot exercise,” she protested. “There are too many mosquitoes biting me.”
When nobody paid any attention to her, she turned to Arun Patil, accusing him of being a Pakistani. “His job is to attack everybody, even for talking,” she said. Arun promptly told her to shut up.
Then she spotted Swati Panjabi walking past and called her a jailbird.

Karuna and Swati make up in the end

“Have you ever been hit by her?” she asked, generally. “Those hands are made of iron. They have become so hard because she used to actually break stones in jail!”
Swati was to soon hear of this; but remarkably, she kept her cool. She bided her time till Arun and Yusuf Rassiwala began discussing the houseboat ride on their last trip to Kerala in 2014. “I was also there,” Swati piped in. “It was great fun, wasn't it?”
“Did you see the hordes of elephants on the river banks?” Karuna asked.
“What elephants? There were no elephants,” Yusuf and Arun chorused.
“Yes, I saw one big fat elephant,” Swati interjected. “It was called Karunamayi. I ran after it with a big stick and drove it out of Kerala.”
A free for all broke out with the two ladies trading abuses, much of which is unpublishable. But the good thing is that in the end, they called a truce and shook hands. That’s how things ought to be.
Kiran Prakash from Kerala:
Blog Monster, we are not so unlucky. Your information about Kerala being declared a 'dry state' appears to be not so accurate. We easily got beer here. It appears that the ban is only on whiskey. However, to set the matter straight, I will find out the latest on this. Thanks.
Dilip Babani from Kerala:
We are all enjoying the trip. It is a little cold in Munnar. While coming here, we encountered heavy rain and strong winds. Rukhsana was so scared that she kept telling the driver to go slow. All were enjoying nice Kerala food -- currimeen with rice, appam and chapati. The food is very spicy but tasty. We had very sweet pineapples at a very big waterfall on the way. Nice breakfast and nice rooms. Pooja Bathija and her husband are in an enjoyable mood. Munnar is having good fog and very nice scenery. Lovely people here, always enjoying. We had beer in Cochin -- nice bar, chicken biryani and parathas ... We are enjoying a lot.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
Nature does not like vacuum. So also with the members of Big Laaf Club. There must be some topic to be discussed, howsoever, trivial or irrelevant. The hardened concrete effect of Swati's hands has to be felt to be imagined. But all's well that ends well.