Birth Day Boy

Bijoy Gupta (l) returns Shekhawat's salute after presenting the birthday calendar

Hari Singh Shekhawat ushered his 79th birthday with us in the Garden today, at 8:00 a.m.. Till then, according to Bijoy Kumar Gupta, he had not taken birth. “Nobody should talk to Shekhawat now,” he appealed during the exercises. “He is still unborn!”
Gupta himself played midwife in the birthing process by presenting Shekhawat his photo calendar on behalf of the Club. With much ceremony, the two clicked their heels and saluted one another in pucca military style. Earlier, Gupta broke tradition and delivered a short but moving speech as he wished his old buddy a long and joyous life. “Aise hi hanste-khelte rahe,” he said.
We too wished our favorite Peter Pan many happy returns of the day, sang the birthday song and raised a fourth laugh to mark the occasion. Some ladies like Fahmida Khan stuck beautiful white flowers on Shekhawat’s ears and cap while he pranced about gleefully like a child

Shekhawat studies the photo calendar

in a new lemon yellow bush shirt – a birthday gift from his adopted sister, Swati Panjabi. Sadly, she was not present as she had to be by her husband who is recuperating

Members peer into the birthday gift

from an eye surgery.
But Shekhawat was clearly over the moon. “I have suffered a great deal in my youth to be seeing this day now,” he confided in Yusuf Rassiwala early morning. “As a daily wage worker in the village, I used to carry head loads from morning to night for a contractor. There was never enough to eat at home. God is being kind to me only now, in my old age.”
Followers of this blog would reckon Shekhawat’s age to be 73 years now. That’s because his official date of birth (as per records with Indian Navy, his last employer) is April 27, 1944. He deliberately shaved off six years at the time of recruitment. “This was the practice back then in villages,” he explained. “There were no hospitals, no age proof, let alone birth certificates... And everybody took advantage of it.”
By that token, Bijoy Gupta was not far amiss when he wanted to give Shekhawat a new birth day today morning.
Dilip Babani:
Happy Birthday, Shekhawat-ji and God bless.
Geeta Latte:
Watching Shekhawat-uncle and Gupta-uncle reminds me of Tom and Jerry.