Lady of the Moment

Swati is at the far end of the circle

Every so often, the Club throws up a character, usually female, to break the drudgery of our daily routine and lift our spirits during the exercises. She is the one to add spice to the proceedings, provide the laughs and is the very personification of entertainment, without tax.
We've seen this happen, time and again, with Sunita Jajodia, Nafisa Sayyed, Mallika Kagzi, Karuna Waghmare... and now, the flavor of the season is Swati Panjabi. Quick on the uptake, energetic, brutally honest, sharp tongued and fleet-footed, she is arguably the fittest among us all. Her appearance belies her age and for all her crazy antics and blunt talk, she can also be incredibly kind and generous to a fault. Besides, she gives superb head massages to those brave enough to stick their necks out to her!
Swati’s present mission in life is to pick on those who defy standing orders not to eat and drink within the Garden's perimeter. In her endeavor to name and shame the guilty, she has made many enemies, but she couldn’t care a damn.

Swati Panjabi

And such is her nature that nobody dares to get on the wrong side of her. The best part is when she narrates these incidents with dramatic flourish for effect.
Now, it is not as though Swati is above all this. Given half a chance, she would set the Garden on fire with a grand feast for all Club members.

Swati in action today morning

Since she cannot do that, she has been periodically ‘threatening’ to invite us home for a big bash and had even got Shekhawat to offload some booze bottles at her place. Ultimately, it had taken a few magic words from Kiran Prakash to dissuade her from going ahead with her plans to host a mega party the day after tomorrow.
Today, an elderly gentleman in the Garden brought Swati a packet of Shrewsbury biscuits from Pune. She identified this benefactor as “Ek Aadmi” and went on to distribute the biscuits selectively. Those who were deprived pounced upon her. But she refused to oblige. Swati saw them having to eventually share broken pieces and crumbs and still, she did not relent. She gave them a piece of her mind instead and made her prejudices known even more (of course, in light vein), much to everyone’s amusement.
What can anybody say about such a person?