Vacation Time

l to r: Alvia, Ali and Eram with Nahid Khan

It is vacation time in Mumbai. With schools and colleges shut, children have started streaming into the Garden, transforming the place into a beautiful fairyland of color and gay abandon. It seemed as though spring was back with them, notwithstanding the oppressive heat and humidity of the morning. The energy these kids bring with them was quite in variance to the dark and somber mood of us oldies – happily relegated to being mute spectators from the side benches and walking track.
Nahid Khan’s grandchildren – Alvia, Eram and Ali – paid us a surprise visit and predictably, lost interest in us and our exercises within minutes. Alvia, the youngest of them, has the habit of picking faults and correcting us at every step. But today, she was rather restrained, having clearly outgrown the habit. At the bidding of their grandmother, the three kids withdrew to a bench and observed us from a distance, giggling to themselves. Before long, they were all over the place.
In this holiday atmosphere,

Banoo Apa (in blue) treats us to lassi, yet again

the only dampener was Shekhawat. He has been under the weather for the past few days, generally keeping to himself and remaining seated on a bench through long spells. He has also been in a hurry to leave the Garden the moment the exercises get over. Bijoy Gupta tried cheering him up today by informing that he consulted a tantrik last evening to get to the root of his problem. But Shekhawat was unmoved. This is quite unusual of him and has led to some speculation on the state of his health. Or maybe, it’s the heat taking its toll.
Meanwhile, our irrepressible Banoo Apa was back to treating us to lassi from home. The last time she did so, on Shab-e-Barat (ref post of May 12), we thought we had extracted a promise from her that the next treat will be only after Ramzaan. Today, she informed that she is still not done and despite protestations from Yusuf Rassiwala and others, would be treating us again on Saturday – “not to lassi, but tea”, as she put it.
Now, what can you say of such a person?
Bihari Milwani:
I am sure on Saturday, the attendance will be full at the end of the exercises -- just to attend the tea party hosted by Banoo Apa.
Geeta Latte:
This is masti ki pathshala -- a school for fun and frolic!
Karun Sharma:
And then we had a wonderful discussion on Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Dev Anand, etc.