New Teacher

We had a new 'teacher’ for the exercises today. In the absence of seasoned regulars like Nahid Khan, Razia Khan and Yusuf Rassiwala, it fell upon Karun Sharma to step in the middle and take us through the free-hand session this morning.
Over the next half-hour or so, Karun conducted himself with effortless ease and aplomb, rarely seen of a debutant. True, he required a little prompting from the sidelines. But the most important part was that

Karun Sharma (foreground) conducts the exercises today

he seemed to enjoy every moment he was holding charge, orchestrating the proceedings.
The change of guard, however, did not go unnoticed in the Garden. Some people began inquiring about the absence of certain key members and how attendance in the Club has steadily dropped.
“I remember a time when there were nearly 40 of you people exercising out in the open,” a bespectacled lady taunted us. An old man sitting beside her in the China Hut asked solicitously if all was well with the Club.
Somehow these busybodies were not convinced by the fact that a series of festivals, coupled with a resurgent monsoon had taken a toll on attendance.
But when Zarina Khan informed that news of our declining numbers had reached her friends outside the Garden, we had to sit her down and do an audit of our membership. We listed eight senior members who have died, five who have relocated elsewhere and another five who are physically infirm and suffering from age-related issues.
Apart from them, there are always more than half a dozen who, much as they would want to, are unable to attend the exercises due to medical or domestic compulsions.
The point though is that none of these absentees are a problem for us in the Club. Nor are they getting in the way of any outsider. We are all happy. We continue to exercise every morning, not missing a day. So where is the problem?

Bihari Milwani:
09/09/19: Lucky date. A new teacher is born in BIG LAAF.