Musical Morning

Musical medley to mark Sitaram Hivarkar's birthday. Do not miss Bijoy Gupta keeping beat by thumping a chair.

Who would have expected a 78-year-old gent, not in the best of health, traveling alone a good 3 – 4 kilometres from home early morning and presenting himself in the Garden,

Sitaram Hivarkar (r) celebrates birthday with luddoos

in time to usher in his birthday with us?
Sitaram Hivarkar did just that today – much to our immense surprise. We were not expecting him, partly because his birthday is tomorrow and secondly, a worsening arthritic condition that keeps him home-bound much of the time. Moreover, he had stopped coming to the Garden after relocating with family to Four Bungalows last year.
So happy were we on getting Sitaram today that even as he tried to excuse himself, nobody was in any mood to let him go.

Sitaram belts out Zohra Jabeen number

Incidentally, he happens to one of the ‘founding fathers’ of our Club. At the behest of Yusuf Rassiwala, he eventually agreed to sit through the exercises and also conducted the prayers in the end.
After that, there was no escape for Sitaram Hivarkar. For old time’s sake, he was made to sing

Geeta Latte (c) treats us to refreshing tea and rusk

his favorite Manna De number, Aye Meri Zohra Jabeen only to be sucked into an impromptu medley of songs with Vasudev Batheja and Mohar Singh, among others, pitching in for good measure.
Suddenly a dull, rained soaked morning was transformed into a fun-filled celebration of croaking and crooning yesteryear hits in the China Hut. For a change, there was no room for jokes, games or gossip today – such was the magic of Sitaram’s presence.
The revelry peaked with Bijoy Gupta taking center stage and rendering a full-throated ditty to the thumps on a plastic chair. Never mind he got his lines muddled midway. But he was soon up on his feet, this time with a hilarious folksy serenade directed at his wife, Pushpa.
But ultimately, it was Geeta Latte who provided the proverbial icing on the cake. Unknown to us, she had brought hot tea and rusk – something that made for a fitting finale to the hour-long birthday celebration. Nobody looked more pleased about it than the birthday boy himself. And that was our biggest takeaway today.
Geeta Latte:
Many, many happy returns of the day, dear Sitaram Uncle! 💐🎂💐🙏
Dilip Babani:
Happy Birthday, Sitaram-ji. Very nice luddoos...
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
It was very nice of Sitaram to come all the way from a long distance and celebrate his birthday in the Club. Hats off to his efforts and stamina. I wish him good health and a long inning ahead. His songs are always welcome. People wait to hear him and Mohar Singh every week.