Keeping Count

We are turning multi-lingual

Siba Prasad Maitra today introduced a new method of counting to break the monotony of exercises. “Ack, Dui, Teen, Chaar, Paach, Chhoy…” he rattled in Bengali.
Yusuf Rassiwala countered with “Ek, Beh, Traan, Chaar, Paanch, Chha…” in chaste Gujarati.
Karuna Waghmare pitched in with “Ek, Don, Tin, Chaar, Paach, Saha…” in Marathi.
Mallika Kagzi and Bhaswati Bose joined in Memoni and Assamese respectively. Not to be outdone, Banoo Apa reeled in Pashto: “Yaw, Dwa, Dray, Celour, Penza, Shpez, Owa, Ata, Naha…” She had become unstoppable.

Manisha Kolhe

Hands flailing in the air, she went on and on, making peculiar noises like noesh, jhaish, yawjhaish, dodresh, drodesh, salordesh… which sounded cute and surely,

Karuna Waghmare orchestrates the birthday song

came as music to our ears. “I am hearing this for the first time,” Maitra remarked truthfully.
Banoo stopped. She had suddenly acquired an exalted status -- of one more knowledgeable than plebians like us and a phorener at that! After her, nobody’s counting mattered. And before long, we relapsed into one, two, three, four… and so on, for all that was worth.
Meanwhile, Mallika and Razia Khan got into a funny altercation with Arun Patil. He objected (as usual) to their sticking together and chatting non-stop while the exercises were on. Nahid Khan observed they were “deeply in love” with each other and tried to separate them.

Manisha with guests at her birthday bash

Within moments they were back together chatting away, only to invite a fresh volley of reprimands from Arun.

Razia, Nahid and Mallika discuss love

“You cannot separate lovers,” Razia retorted, quoting from an Urdu couplet. “The farther you keep them, the closer they get. Distance makes the heart fonder.”
Mallika had turned red in the face. Nahid intervened by arguing that it is plain commonsense that the longer you are together, love keeps growing. Razia did not obviously agree, but before she could retaliate, Arun went hammer and tongs at her. “Keep your discussions after the exercises,” he bellowed.
But after the exercises, Manisha Kolhe took over. Dressed in an exquisite aquamarine ensemble with large floral prints, she celebrated her birthday (December 9) in style this morning with a fabulous selection of savories. Clearly, she is a votary of Yusuf Rassiwala (ref post of December 10) and others who uphold the view that the human body needs seven nutrients to stay healthy – chakli, tomato sticks, methi wadi, mawa cupcake, khari biscuit, cake toast and chikkis.
Mallika Kagzi added an eighth – piping hot tea.