Farewell 2019

Last day of the year at the Garden: Happy Birthday SIBA PRASAD MAITRA

We bid farewell to 2019 by ushering in Siba Prasad Maitra’s birthday. Yusuf Rassiwala and Banoo Apa jointly presented him the birthday calendar on behalf of the Club while the rest of us raised the customary ‘fourth laugh’ after the exercises and sang the birthday song. Bihari Milwani described this as a ‘Vat 69’ occasion. Now, go figure!

Banoo Apa and Yusuf Rassiwala present calendar

Curious members poring in the birthday calendar

Meanwhile, our biggest achievement of the morning was junking the Borivali National Park picnic slated for January 5 (ref yesterday’s post). We realised that it would involve too many logistical and coordination problems, prompting many to opt out on one pretext or the other. Rather than get into a thankless exercise, Maitra suggested a more

Handing food boxes to all members

Banoo Apa treats us to hot-hot tea.

practical and manageable alternative – an informal get-together within
his building complex. And since our objective was to celebrate New Year, why not have the party on January 1 itself?
The proposal found instant approval and a spot decision was taken to gather tomorrow evening at the Link Garden Towers compound where arrangements for a cosy dinner party replete with a music system, speakers, lights and the works would be made in advance. Maitra booked the place on phone and after consulting the members present, he placed an order for the evening menu with a known caterer. Shekhawat offered to bring in the booze. Everyone agreed that this should be a strictly contributory party, open to members only. “Nothing can be any better than this for a New Year’s bash,” chirped Bijoy Gupta, echoing the general sentiment. Full credit to Siba Prasad Maitra.

Bihari Milwani:
Credit for the New Year party should go to VAT 69 which gave this new idea to Mr Maitra.

Borivali Picnic

Zarina Khan and Nahid Khan

Nahid Khan and Zarina Khan were back in the Garden this morning. As reported earlier (ref post of December 27), they were having medical issues which made them considerably weak and unsure of themselves. Zarina, who sat through today’s exercises, believes she is “condemned for life” with her BP problem. And Nahid cannot understand how deficiency in Vit C and Vit D (for which she’s been prescribed medicines) is responsible for recurring bouts of giddiness.
However, the bigger development of the morning was the Club taking a call on celebrating New Year at Borivali National Park on January 5 (next Sunday). As there is little time left for preparations, Yusuf Rassiwala convened

Discussions on picnic at Borivli National Park

a meeting soon after the exercises to discuss various options open to us for the picnic.
At the outset, Shekhawat rejected the idea of hiring a bus (as we had done the last time around on December 2012) to ferry us to and fro since it will

Urmila Sinha brought gajar halwa

involve needless expenditure on keeping a bus held up for the entire day. Banoo Apa had learnt from some transporter that this would cost us nothing less than Rs5,000 (for a small bus).
The other option is to pile on to members taking their cars out and driving the distance. Or else, we could perhaps all take OLA cabs and split the costs. This was found to be most economical – if not actually comfortable. On balance though, it was decided to avail of both modes of transport and collect a certain sum from every ‘passenger’ in advance.
It was also decided that the Club should bear the entry fees to the national park as well as incidental expenses (such as snacks, refreshments, etc.) incurred by the group. Lunch would largely be packed from home and shared, much like a potluck. Those preferring to go for restaurant food would be free to do so.
Yusuf R asked everyone to give these aspects a serious thought and come up with suggestions before confirming their participation. A final head-count will be done tomorrow. Only thereafter, would a programme for the day be worked out.

DAY 2997

Pic of the Week

EPIC REACTION ON SEEING SANTA CLAUS: "REALLY, WHO YOU?"
Photo Credit: GEETA LATTE

Wow! 'He-Santa' meets 'She-Santa'!!! The public is simply amazed watching them --Bihari Milwani

Juhu Ghost

Gupta (c) wants to know what Shekhawat has to say in defence

The Sunday evening bash at Juhu Chowpatty is long gone and almost forgotten (ref post of December 22). Our Christmas celebration in the Garden is more recent and has since remained the flavour of the season. But today, out of nowhere, ghosts from the Juhu event had come to haunt us, all thanks to Bijoy Gupta.
The funny thing is that Gupta never attended the Juhu party.

Shekhawat will not hold his own ears

Yet, he has been keeping himself informed about all its sordid details, particularly with regard to Shekhawat. When asked why he was so curious, he explained that he was “naturally concerned” about the welfare of his friend. He would not elaborate any further.
This morning the cat was out of the bag. Gupta informed

Karun Sharma (2nd from rt) conducts exercises today

that during his visits to the Garden in the evening, he has been meeting two angry young men on the lookout for Shekhawat. “I met them last evening also,” he narrated. “They said they had come from Juhu Chowpatty. One looked normal, non-descript actually. But the other one was quite girlish, even pretty with very delicate features.”
Fact or fiction, Gupta insisted they were transgenders and that Shekhawat owed them money. “They said they were here to recover Rs20,000,” Gupta elaborated. “I did not dare ask them what for… But seriously, when you could well have settled the matter for Rs100 or so at Juhu Beach itself, why invite a situation now on your head in the Garden?”
How much of all this is true is anybody’s guess. But the way Shekhawat smilingly heard his friend through, it was clear that he was not in the least perturbed. He did not even bother to defend himself. All he said was that he was not going anywhere and were he to meet the two men, he knew how to deal with them.
Gupta will have to come up with a more creative and convincing story next time if he has to corner Shekhawat.

Bad Scene

Eyes glazed, Fahmida reclines on a chair

There is something in the air that has been causing widespread distress in the Club. Zarina Khan could not attend our Christmas celebration in the Garden (ref post of December 25) because of a sudden spike in her BP level. She kept retching continuously and has been bedridden since. In spite of medication, her BP remains precariously high.
Apart from BP, there are instances of fluctuating sugar levels, bouts of breathlessness, body ache, giddiness and persistent headache affecting every other member of the Club.
Yesterday Nahid Khan could not come for the exercises because of “bhayankar chakkar” – a severe attack of dizziness and nausea. She believes it was vertigo.

Zarina Khan

But medical tests have revealed nothing.
Today, Fahmida Khan fainted just as we were dispersing for home. One moment she was merrily chatting with us in the China Hut and the next, she slid off her chair and was flat on the ground, eyes rolling over menacingly.
Her body stiffened and she began making snorting sounds like one short of breath.
Nahid Khan rushed to her aid and offered her water to drink. Yusuf Rassiwala gave her a lozenge. Fahmida spluttered momentarily and became unconscious again. Clearly, she was going through waves of blackouts.

SECRET SANTAS: Yusuf R(ext l) and Shekhawat (2nd from rt) 

But the bigger problem was to lift her from the cold floor on to a chair.
Fahmida had turned incredibly heavy (and stiff) by then. Somehow, we managed to get her to recline over two chairs and before long, she came around. She wanted to go home. Yusuf R advised that she rest for a while, but she was adamant.

Bihari Milwani shows video of what
Razia Khan missed on Christmas Day

Eventually, she had to be escorted home, Nahid Khan holding her firmly right up to her doorstep.
In retrospect, it would seem that this was the price for all the fun and games we have been having since December 22 (see post). Yusuf R did a post-mortem earlier in the morning of our Christmas celebration the day-before, heaping praise on all participants and especially, Santa Claus – better known as Kiran Prakash.
What was not mentioned though were the real Santa Clauses of the Club. Yes, there were two of them, Yusuf R himself and Shekhawat. They were the ones who had borne the expenses of the entire event and their contribution was acknowledged by a round of applause by all present. In fact, part of the Juhu Beach outing last Sunday was also sponsored by them. And yet, there was money left over to be returned.
Reluctantly, the two accepted the balance amount, thanking everyone once again for their participation.

Class Act

'Real' Kiran Prakash

Kiran Prakash’s class act as Santa Claus (ref yesterday’s post) has earned him high praise from all quarters. A fourth laugh was raised for him after the exercises today for the manner he could get into the skin of the character and keep

Bihari Milwani sits amused as Qadir Bano seeks the blessing
of Santa Claus (a.k.a. Kiran Prakash) for her grandchild

all kids engaged for the entire two-hour duration of the Christmas celebration in the Garden yesterday.
Clearly, nobody had expected him to pull it off so effortlessly. Even those who have been seeing him every morning for years failed recognise the face behind the disguise. Many made “educated guesses” wondering if Santa was someone they knew, but never quite zeroing in on Kiran Prakash.
“I thought you people had got hold of some boodwa (old man) from somewhere and dressed him up as Father Christmas,” said a Garden regular, instantly prompting peals of laughter all around.

Shekhawat (l) still cannot believe his eyes!

“Honestly, I believed you had kept him hidden outside the gate and at your signal, he showed up before us. I saw him getting out of an autorickshaw, but how was I to know he was Kiran Prakash?”
Kiran Prakash, who was present today (without make-up, of course) quietly listened to the compliments, but at this point he too burst out laughing. He had saved a video recording of the event in his mobile and circulated it around among those not present yesterday.

Biscuits  Sharing the remains of yesterday

Barring Laxmi Hadimani, nobody could identify him in the Santa costume and get-up.
Yusuf Rassiwala’s grand-daughters, Mubaraka and Jamila as well as Siba Prasad Maitra’s two sprightly grandsons, Yug and Ziann also came in for much acclaim from those present. By now, Mubaraka has become a club veteran having attended our exercises quite often and even officiating as a judge for our last Sports Day.
But the biggest surprise was Shekhawat’s grandson, Shlok presently pursuing his studies in the U.K. He rarely visits the Club. The last we remember seeing him was as a shy pre-teen, holding on to his grandma’s pallu. Nobody had expected to see him grow into a fine young man, clean-shaved, with an air of authority about him.
This was the purpose of yesterday’s event. Over the year, we hardly get to meet and interact with the kids we hear/ know of and about whom our members are so proud. A Christmas celebration exclusively for children (read grandkids) is just a pretext to bridge this gap. In that sense, we were fairly successful yesterday. Next year we will be still better.

Karun Sharma:
Let me name this event as Get-together of Grands -- grandparents and grandchildren. It was a highly successful event, prompting my grandson, Vivan and son, Madhur to attend. Meeting Shekhawat-ji's grandson was the first time for me. The grandchildren of Yusuf-bhai and Maitra-ji were very active and it was good to connect with other grandchildren too. Kiran-ji handled the role of Santa with authority and ease. We must continue to play the role of Santa Claus in the lives of our friends.

Hussain Rassiwalla
I thank God for blessing me with such good grandparents and all the people whom I have known through my grandfather. I thank everyone for giving me a chance to bring out the real me. I feel very lucky to have such people in my life and I wish that God always fills your life with happiness. I again thank you all for taking the effort to know me better and accepting me as one of you. Thank you very much.

Christmas 2019

OPENING SPEECH: Mubaraka Rassiwala pays glowing tributes to the elders who organised today's function for children

Santa Claus greets the kids

A gift for Vivaan also

Jingle Bells,

Jingle Bells...

Qadir Bano (c) comes with her family 

Yug also takes to the floor 

Ziann shakes a leg

Jamila and Mubaraka Rassiwala

Photo Op: Santa poses with the kids 

Doting grandpa

Selfie with Santa

Husain recites a few couplets

Section of the audience: the three Khans (l
to r) Nahid, Rukhsana and Naseem

Show getting over, Santa is all alone

Mansi has her say...

Azlam and Falak regale

Sanjiv Yadav recites a poem

GRAND FINALE: Musical Chairs

Cause for Worry

Last minute planning for the Christmas celebration tomorrow

The joy of over-sleeping on a cold, winter morning is simply incomparable. Stealing those extra few minutes in bed -- especially when you are supposed to be up and moving – is nothing short of supreme bliss. After all, stolen kisses are always the sweetest.
Thus, it was quite understandable when people do not turn up to exercise early morning these days. From Razia Khan and Rukhsana Khan to Banoo Apa, Bihari Milwani and Siba Prasad Maitra many were found to be missing in action today. The Garden, in fact, appeared quite deserted this morning because of the sudden winter chill.
But what would you say of the kids we are expecting for Christmas tomorrow? Santa Claus is coming (ref post of December 16) with a bagful of goodies and except for Yusuf Rassiwala’s grandchildren, the

Santosh Tyagi

others aren’t quite sure if they’ll be able to make it to the Garden. Their grandparents are equally reticent, unsure if they’d succeed in waking them up on time.
Zarina Khan however, assured us that she’d manage to wake “at least one” of her grandkids tomorrow. Qadir Bano is also hopeful of getting the “younger one”. Shekhawat though, is “mortally afraid” of entering his grandson’s room as he sleeps with the AC in full blast. Banoo Apa too is not sure. Nahid Khan and Fahmida said that their grandchildren would be away from home with their parents for weddings in the family.
Adding to our concern, our in-house Santa had developed a severe “memory loss issue”. He left home at 6:45 a.m. today and landed at the Garden after 8:00 a.m. He should normally cover the distance by foot in 10 minutes. Strangely, he could not recollect how he lost his way. Worse, he did not recognise anybody in the Club. But Bijoy Gupta consoled him saying that there is no cause for worry. “This happens to everybody who is love-struck,” he said.
Meanwhile, there’s good news from Santosh Tyagi who underwent a knee replacement surgery at Kokilaben Hospital yesterday. According to family sources, the surgery has been successful and she is doing fine now. But she would have to be kept under observation for some time before getting discharged.

Eating Club?

Happy Birthday BIHARI MILWANI -- sixth from left

Zareena (r) presents calendar

In the whole of last week, there has not been a single day when we were not treated to some delicacy, titbit or sweets. From Urmila Sinha’s cut fruits to Banoo Apa’s crunchy biscuits and tea to Vijay-bhai’s chocobars, we’ve had them all... and are still not done smacking our lips.

Flipping through the birthday calendar

Tasty treats have become our way of life.
This begs the question: Have we turned into an Eating Club?
Yusuf Rassiwala hit the nail on the head at the beach party on Juhu Chowpatty last evening when he observed that all we are concerned with these days is eating, eating and eating. “Looks like we are no longer a Laughter Club,” he remarked. “We have unfortunately become an Eating Club.”
It was a cryptic comment on the wasteful consumption during our four-hour outing at the beach where our primary preoccupation was food. We did nothing else than eat. Strangely, this vulgar display of gluttony began the moment we settled down and without a pause or even waiting for everyone to arrive, orders

Everybody received a box of 'coffee fill' from the birthday boy 

started flying thick and fast for plates of pao-bhaji, cheese pizzas, paneer-chilli, hakka noodles… kulfi and pistas.
Like many of us, Shekhawat was outraged and predictably, raised the subject this morning in order to lay some guidelines and bring about a sense of decorum in our obsession with food. This was critical because there are some big events/ treats awaiting us in the near future – Christmas on the 25th, picnic at Borivli National Park on January 5, Sports Day on February 14, picnic at Juhu Beach (not again!) on March 3, courtesy Zareena Khan…
In keeping with the spirit of the times, Bihari Milwani celebrated his birthday by treating us to boxes of ‘coffee fills’ – something unique for many of us. Zareena presented him the birthday calendar on behalf of the Club while we raised the customary fourth laugh and sang the birthday song for our number-crunching friend. He turned 64 today.

Geeta Latte:
Lovely birthday celebration😍😍 !!!

Day 2990

Pic(s) of the Week

TODAY'S BHAJI BY THE BEACH
Photo Courtesy: Many pics are by GEETA LATTE