Baby to Baba

Kiran Prakash (c) speaks of his renunciation plans

Kiran Prakash is on the verge of becoming ‘Baba’, a spiritual guru. So far he has been going by the moniker of ‘Baby’– though it has little to do with age. Unlike normal adults, he avoids drinking tea and insists on having bottled milk instead.
Today he announced his intention to embark upon a life-altering spiritual journey that would render him incommunicado for the next 10 days. On January 21, he would emerge from his retreat at the Vipassana Meditation Centre (Golden Pagoda) in Gorai village, on the outskirts of Mumbai.
The announcement was received with much trepidation for two reasons: one, nobody from the Club has ever ventured out on such a spiritual quest before; and two, Kiran is much too loved for anybody to wish him being any different from what he is. Many, in fact, were worried about seeing him next with long, flowing beard and unkempt knotted hair, like a sadhu. Some wondered seriously whether he would start delivering updesh (sermons) every morning in the Garden

Happy Birthday, Dilip Babani!

while others debated over christening him “Baba Kiran Prakash”, as against “Kiran Bapu”.
Yusuf Rassiwala, who fondly calls Kiran ‘Chhutkan’ (younger brother), asked what he would stand to gain by not talking for ten days, switching off the mobile, not watching TV or reading newspapers, living on spartan food, that too once a day…
Kiran spoke of wanting to clear his mind of clutter, channelizing positive thoughts, control over emotions, etc. He said he had undertaken the course once before and benefited immensely.
Karun Sharma endorsed his views as he too had gone through the grind once. “You lose some weight also,” he added.
None of this made any sense to the likes of Shekhawat, Nahid Khan and Mallika Kagzi, who stood around in silence. “Once you are out of the pakora (meaning pagoda) you will be back to your old habits,” Geeta Latte affirmed. “What is the point of undergoing so much deprivation?”
When it became amply clear that nothing would alter the situation, Dilip Babani offered to smuggle chicken tikka masala, biryani, whiskey, soda… into the pagoda so that Kiran could at least have a decent meal when he wanted to.
Geeta Latte:
Many, many happy returns of the day, Dilip Uncle.