Reverse Bossism

Yusuf Rassiwala

That Arun Patil dislikes anybody talking during the exercises is well known. Being a stickler for discipline (ref post of January 31), he has been throwing his weight around as the Club’s self-appointed ombudsman for maintaining order and has ensured that nobody challenges his authority. His bossism increases manifold when he takes to the middle and conducts the exercises – as it happened this morning.
But oddly enough, he was to meet his match from an unlikely quarter. For, Yusuf Rassiwala is not one to easily involve himself in petty scraps between members, especially when it would amount to taking sides.

Larger than Life: Arun Patil (foreground) conducts the exercises today

With Arun’s dadagiri also, he has maintained a stoic silence, which has often been taken to be an indication of tacit approval.
Thus, many were taken aback when Yusuf picked on Arun today, urging him to speak louder while conducting the exercises.
Arun raised his voice for a while and before long, relapsed to his normal tone. Again Yusuf got after him. “I still cannot hear you,” he reminded. “Can’t you shout out louder?”
“If I shout louder, everybody will get scared and run out of the Garden,” Arun retorted.
“The truth is Arun doesn’t have the strength to shout,” Nahid Khan quipped cheekily. “He is hungry. He hasn’t eaten since last night.” The man, who had been regularly pulling up people for talking, suddenly found himself at the receiving end. But he plodded on regardless.
Ultimately, Yusuf and Nahid decided that he has been starving since the last party in the Club and hence, was unable to raise his voice today. So much for being the dreaded Arun Patil of Big Laaf!
Kiran Prakash:
Blog Monster, through the morning I watched you taking this picture. Still can't make out how you managed such an impressive one. Hats off to you dear!
Bihari Milwani:
Arun believes that every dog has his day. So he kept quiet today and enjoyed the fun.