Basic Instinct

A PYT strayed into the Garden today. Dressed in tiny red top and hot pants, she drew a chair outside the China Hut, next to an old garden regular (who cannot be named). She was obviously his guest. But they hardly spoke. Suddenly she stood up, walked

Pic for representational purposes

to the nearby water cooler, filled a plastic bottle and then she was gone.
For the time she was around, we missed nothing. At least a dozen pair of eyes bored into her. Call it age-defying curiosity, a happy diversion from our regular routine or basic human instinct, we followed every action, every gesture she made – just that nobody spoke anything. The man she was with has been an old friend of the Club.
But this was not the case when, the other day, another PYT showed up on the walking track. She was an apparition in black – black track pants, black top, black sneakers, hair tied in a top knot…
Even Nahid Khan could not take her eyes off her. “How about asking her to join us?” she quipped. “She will add glamour to the Club.”
“She looks like some model,” speculated Bhaswati Bose. “With a member like her, it will never be a problem attracting more members. As it is, the Club can do with more members.”

Exercising in all seriousness

“True,” Shekhawat shook his head genially, his interest no longer in the exercises.
“But why should someone like her want to join our Club?” asked Zarina Khan.
“Whether or not anybody joins the Club, her presence will ensure that everybody comes in time and attendance is full every morning,” continued Nahid. By then all eyes were glued to the girl making repeated rounds of the Garden. Exercises had become secondary with jokes flying thick and fast. “Once she joins, Shekhawat will recover completely and never have to go to Colaba,” Rukhsana Khan chipped in.
“But I will get fever if she were to join!” said Bijoy Gupta matter-of-factly. After all, boys will be boys.

Lt Col Angad Singh:
Does this mean Bijoy Gupta believes that the young and nubile member would carry him in her lap to a doctor? O hush up, you naughty old chap!

Karun Sharma:
These discussions keep us young at heart.