Day of Reckoning

Bijoy Gupta (in blue) allays all fears...

Saturday, March 11, 2017 is already being seen as a day of reckoning for the Club. Many have no intention of showing up that day in the Garden in spite of repeated assurances from Bijoy Gupta that whosoever is elected “mahamoorkh” (ref post of February 27) shall be treated with utmost respect. “We are here not to disrespect anyone,” he maintained.
But Shekhawat is not convinced. He makes no secret of his plans to bunk exercises on Saturday lest he be elected “mahamoorkh”.

Siba Prasad Maitra narrates
cobra story

To allay his fears, Gupta did a head count of those who would stand for election and eliminated Shekhawat – but with a rider: “He will have to explain why he is the wisest man around, why his khaandaan is full of wise people, how his children are also wise, why his grandparents were wise…”
That was enough for Shekhawat to smell a rat. He wants to be no part of all this, even as some of his close confidantes assured him that Gupta would be elected hands down.

Shekhawat (middle) watches nervously

“Yes, yes, we should all vote for Gupta,” he said nervously. “Nobody in the Club deserves the mahamoorkh title more.”
Gupta had a ready reply to this also: “Anybody can raise an objection on the way the election is held. You can always argue that the voting was rigged, that the winner is not the biggest fool, that there are bigger fools around and go on to even stake your claim as the biggest moorkh on earth!”
Surely we were missing something as nobody in his right senses would fight to be designated ‘great fool’ and live with the ignominy ever after. Soon others were to develop cold feet, thereby leaving Gupta as the sole contender (in all likelihood). In between, Siba Prasad Maitra recounted an apocryphal tale of a cobra having to nearly pay with its life for doing a good turn to a bunch of stupid children.
Sadly, the moral of the story was lost in chatter and everybody laughed foolishly. It was taken as a joke!
Siba Prasad Maitra:
Rightly pointed out by Blog Monster: The moral of the story got lost in the laughter of a joke -- though it was an anecdote.
Bihari Milwani:
I wonder why Mahamoorkh Day (Big Fools Day) is being celebrated on HOLI instead of April 1, All Fools' Day.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Election of mahamoorkh should be spontaneous. It does not require any canvassing. One must not shy away from attending the function and enjoying the proceedings.