Nail-biting Thriller

The build-up over Gupta attending today's exercises

Bijoy Gupta got the shock of his life this morning. He had barely set foot in the Garden when the China Hut erupted into loud shrieks and cries directed at him. Razia Khan tumbled out,

Razia Khan accosts an unsuspecting Bijoy Gupta

accosting him, “Why did you come today?”
Nahid Khan turned hysterical, nearly falling off a chair. Bhaswati Bose, Zarina Khan, Yusuf Rassiwala, Urmila Sinha… everybody buckled and laughed, tears streaming down their cheeks -- except for Gupta. He stood isolated, dumbstruck. “I shouldn’t have come, or what?” he asked foolishly.
“Now that you’ve come, you’ll have to treat us all to chai,” demanded Razia.
Gupta looked relieved. Clearly, tea was not an issue. And yet, it was the issue. For, we had laid a bet on whether Gupta would turn up for the exercises today. The men said he would. The ladies said he wouldn’t. The losing group would have to treat everybody to tea.
From that point suspense started to build up. Bihari Milwani was

Zarina Khan (r) distributes Perks to celebrate
her son winning an award in Switzerland

the first to sound a false alarm, much like crying wolf. Whenever someone of Gupta’s size and shape (like Thakur in half-pants) walked into the Garden, a cry went out, “Gupta has come!”
Someone suggested that a phone call be made, warning Gupta not to step out of home today. Another, from the rival party, asked Karun Sharma (who left early) to take a detour and pay Gupta auto fare to rush to the Garden before the exercises got over. Yet another suggestion was to shut the gates of the Garden so that Gupta could not get in while we were exercising.
Meanwhile, a ding-dong battle ensued over rushing through the exercises, throwing everyone off gear. Yusuf R deliberately went slow, hoping Gupta would make it in time. In this war of nerves, we were left breathless laughing our guts out at the madness of it all. Will he make it? Will he not? Tension had reached its peak when we were nearing the end of the tai-chi round. And then Gupta walked in casually, a silly grin pasted on his face!
The ladies lost. But more importantly, we had the unique experience of a ridiculously funny and thrilling exercise session that consumed us all. For many, this was the happiest morning at the Garden in 15 years.

Karun Sharma:
This proves that all happiness is inside us. We do not need a big reason to be happy. In fact, we can be happy unconditionally and without reason. This natural happiness must be preserved by all means.

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
The ladies lost the bet. But they won the game. No tea was served. Hurrah! Enjoy and be happy!!!