Cause for Concern

Dip in attendance today

Urmila Sinha called up yesterday to inform that she must perforce defer her return to Mumbai by four months. She needs to take care of some unfinished work in Dhanbad. That apart, the family she was staying with in Mumbai is also away and would return not before August-September.
Urmila is important to us because she is among the counted few who are punctual and regular to a fault – regardless of whether there is a party or not. Today, for instance, the turnout was just about half of what we saw on Saturday (see post), clearly because there was no occasion for anyone to announce a party.
During Ramzaan (less than a month away), things would turn even worse.

Urmila Sinha

Daily attendance is bound to hit rock bottom, leading to what Banoo Apa described this morning as an alarming situation. “The Garden will turn barren during Ramzaan,” she declared before surprising us with a refreshing round of tea and cake slices after the exercises.
That the summer heat will be at its peak during May is another deterrent for members to show up at the Garden.

Banoo Apa's surprise treat today morning

And from June onwards, we will be hit by the monsoon rains. There will be days when we may even have to suspend our exercises due to low turnout. We lost two days due to this reason last year – something unprecedented in the Club.
This is what has become a cause for concern. Scrapping exercises is akin to sounding the death knell for Big Laaf. Unlike other laughter clubs (most of them have folded up), we have survived well beyond 15 years for the simple reason that come what may, exercises are held every day between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. without fail.
Everyone knows this. Late comers are assured that no matter how late they may be, there will always be some members exercising religiously in the Garden during that one hour. This is what has kept the Club going. Once that assurance is taken away, many would not bother to leave their homes. And then, it would only be a matter of time before we say farewell to one another.