Against Odds

Bunty sings for birthday girl, Razia Khan (foreground) 

It’s getting to be too much of a good thing. For we have lost count of the number of birthday bashes we’ve already had this month. And we were treated to yet another big one today morning.
Razia Khan was not in the best of health today. Yet, she managed to lay out an expansive spread, what with a variety of savories, fries, sweets and cake slices… clearly defying a persistent throat problem that causes her to break into frequent bouts of coughing.
What was even worse, her daughter-in-law Tahira has been detected with kidney stones and is under heavy medication. In spite of being in obvious pain, she popped in a few pills and was present in the morning to usher the birthday of her “best mother, best sister and best friend” – as she put it.
That was not all. Banoo Apa had hurt herself badly yesterday evening from a reckless auto-rickshaw ride that left her with a nasty catch in the waist.

Banoo Apa presents a gift

Siba Prasad Maitra presents birthday calendar

Defying all odds, she made it a point to be there in the Garden for her friend’s birthday and came in limping slowly, lugging two heavy flasks of tea and a personal gift for Razia – the only one to do so!
And then there was our good friend Bunty casting his magical spell and bringing cheer with

Razia with daughter-in-law, Tahira

Poring over the birthday calendar

two evocative songs – one for the birthday girl (Bar bar yeh din aaye… Happy birthday to you!) and the other, for all of us (‘Zindagi bhar nahi bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat’).
Earlier in the morning, Siba Prasad Maitra did the honors of presenting Razia with her birthday calendar on behalf of the Club. We joined them with singing the birthday song and in true Big Laaf tradition, a fourth laugh was raised for her after the exercises. Once again, here’s wishing Razia Khan many happy returns of the day.

Section of guests at the party

Dilip Babani:
Happy Birthday, Razia-ji.

Geeta Latte:
Happy Birthday, dear Razia Aunty 🎂💐🎂

Siba Prasad Maitra:
Happy Birthday, Razia-ji. Thanks for expressing your desire to receive the calendar from a Bengali. So I got the opportunity, though there were two more Bengalis around, Mr and Mrs Bose. It was indeed a great occasion to celebrate and we enjoyed a lot.

Karun Sharma:
Razia-ji, I missed your party. I wish I could be around to wish you, but you were in my thoughts. May God give you all happiness.

Yusuf Rassiwala:
Razia-ji, even though your health was not permitting, you still came to the Garden and celebrated your birthday with a grand party. This speaks highly about your love and affection for our Club members. We all enjoyed the party. We pray for your early recovery. ALLAH BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.