Rajasthan Returnees

Bijoy Gupta

Bijoy Gupta has unknowingly created around him a constituency of ardent followers sold out on his brand of irreverent humour. He had only to open his mouth during the just-concluded Rajasthan Tour for all of them to howl together in laughter – be it on his wicked

Kiran Prakash (arms raised) confers titles on the Rajasthan returnees

taunts about the haveli-turned-hotel (in which they were lodged in Jodhpur) being haunted or about why he detests green tea or on how he lost his way in the desert dunes of Jaisalmer and his many misadventures thereafter.
Sadly, he did not turn up at the Garden this morning. Most of the others in the group were there, happy and refreshed after a pleasant train journey back to Mumbai yesterday. Yusuf Rassiwala and Siba Prasad Maitra were the only ones to take a flight back with their wives and they had a harrowing time.

Jaggery sweets from Fahmida Khan (r)

Gajaks from Lakshmi Hadimani (l)

Their Air India plane developed a technical snag, leaving them stranded at Jaipur airport for nearly 15 hours. They returned home in the dead of night on Saturday.
Barring this incident, everybody had only positive things to say about the week-long trip. Fahmida Khan and Laxmi Hadimani added to the merriment by distributing jiggery sweets and gajak.
Kiran Prakash raised the festive pitch still higher by conferring the title of ‘Best Romantic Jodi of the Trip’ on Mr and Mrs Yusuf Rassiwala with Mr and Mrs Siba Prasad Maitra, a close runner-up.

Kanta Sharma

Swati Panjabi

The Fevicol Couple of the Trip title went to Shanti Singh- Gurmeet Kapoor and Banoo Apa was declared Best Dancer on the Trip.
Fahmida was adjudged Best Entertainer of the Trip and she even re-enacted her famous spooky number (ref post of February 9) at the Jodhpur hotel for our benefit. While everybody laughed, Shekhawat for one, looked particularly rattled. He believes in ghosts and chudails!
In all this, unfortunately, there were two major dampeners. Swati Panjabi lost her mother and she had to detrain at Baroda to catch up with the chautha ceremony in her maternal home. Kanta Sharma left for Delhi upon hearing of the passing away of her brother.
In both instances, the deaths occurred during the course of the trip, the news deliberately withheld from them for obvious reasons. Our condolences and prayers are with the bereaved. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.
Dilip Babani:
Nice stories were told to us about Rajasthan tour by Kiran Prakash, Yusuf-bhai, Maitra, Bhaswati and Fehmida Khan. I think many members missed going on the tour.
Ibrahim Qureshi:
We had a really great time with the group during the Rajasthan tour. Heartiest congratulations to Bhaswanti and team for organizing such an amazing trip. Looking forward to joining you all in future as well.