Attributions

Shekhawat growls at an invisible Gupta on the chair

Wagging the tongue, an exercise meant to jog the brain cells, is specifically attributed to Yusuf Rassiwala. But he is not the only one to have an exercise to his name. Thanks to Shekhawat, at least three other members have come to be associated, directly or indirectly, with one or the other exercise every morning.
The first is Rukhsana Khan. The moment a call goes out for 'Nach Baliye', Shekhawat gets into his act. While all of us would dutifully rotate our hips -- first clockwise and then anti-clockwise -- he would launch into his bizarre spiel: “Rukhsana-ji, wherever you are, dance karo!” (Should Rukhsana be present there with us that day, he would switch to addressing Razia Khan in absentia).
The second is Naheed Siddiqui. Here the trigger is ‘kaan kheycho’ – tugging the ear lobes. Shekhawat’s standard pitch (in translation) here is, “Naheed-ji, whether you are in the kitchen or bathroom, in the bedroom or on the road, pull your ears!” And if she were to show up later, he would

Banoo Apa (l) receives Shekhawat's half-sponsorship for Beach Party

greet her by saying, “I have already pulled my ears on your behalf” (whatever that might mean).
Next is Bijoy Gupta, his favourite. In fact, he has two exercises attributed to him. One is during ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ when he would pointedly urge Gupta to lower his bums ‘down-down-down’ in the half-sitting position… till the latter, out of sheer exasperation, would snap back, “Go see a doctor, you need to be cured of this bimari.”
The other and most popular Gupta-attribution is the Lion and Lioness Laughter. Here Shekhawat addresses his pal as ‘Gudhri ka Lal’ with such fervour that even if he were not to be present, the chair (or space) he usually occupies becomes the focus of his impassioned growls. Gupta becomes miraculously visible to Shekhawat only.
Amusing as this may all seem, we have all got used to this drama playing out every morning. Nobody as much as raises an eyebrow when Shekhawat gets into his act. And if, for some reason, we are deprived of the spectacle, frankly, everybody feels uncomfortable. For, something has surely gone amiss.