Born Again

Khatoon Baig (r) gives her blessings to the group setting out on the
Mt Abu-Udaipur tour this evening

Exercising regularly is all very good for the body and soul. Or so have we learnt over the years. But the contrary can also be true. Or so did we learn this morning when Khatoon Baig turned up looking unusually bright and upbeat, fresh as a daisy. “I feel like I am blessed with a new life,” she declared to a bevy of astonished admirers.
Khatoon did not come to the Garden to exercise for the past three months. “I had developed severe pain and swelling in my backbone and knees,” she explained. “I could not sit, stand or lie down. The doctors said it had something to do with wear and tear of the bones and put me on physiotherapy for 90 days.

Shekhawat (file photo)

That’s why I was away for so long.”
The last we saw of Khatoon was when she used to show up in the morning, already tired out and exhausted. We knew she had an acute asthma issue. Very often, she would break away from the exercises and doze off while seated on a bench. So when she stopped coming with the onset of monsoon, we assumed that the asthma had got the better of her.
“The asthma attacks and wheezing have disappeared miraculously,” Khatoon revealed flashing a radiant smile. “It is not as though I had to take special medicines. Of course, I still run out of breath whenever I exert myself too much. But the breathlessness is never as acute as earlier. As I said, I feel I am born again.”
In contrast, Shekhawat is showing signs of a relapse of the problem for which he had undergone a surgery in his chest barely two months back (ref post of September 18). Today he had to be escorted home midway through the exercises when he started wincing in pain and could not even remain seated properly. He was supposed to apply a certain lotion on the affected part before coming to the Garden, but had forgotten this morning.
The pain however, persisted through the day and now he is planning to meet his surgeon at the naval hospital in Colaba on Monday.