Corona Scare

Bijoy Gupta (l) insists having seen Zarina Khan's photo in Navbharat Times

The coronavirus outbreak has put the fear of the devil in many of us. Although no case of infection has yet been reported in the city, a decision was taken by the Club today not to celebrate Holi on March 10 this year.
This was in line with a string of government advisories to stay away from large gatherings and avoid inter-personal contact to the extent possible. Many entertainment shows and events as well as Holi celebrations have since been cancelled.
Already Shekhawat is seen sporting a white handkerchief tied loosely around his neck (which he slips up to his nose to serve as a face mask) by way of precaution. Also, we have stopped the practice of exchanging ‘high fives’ that marks the end of our daily exercises. We greet one another with a formal ‘namaste’ or ‘adaab’ instead.
In fact, the coronavirus scare has been hanging low as an ominous cloud, even threatening the awards function on March 5 (see post). Had our chief guest, Johnny Lever chosen to back out at the eleventh hour, all our plans and preparations would have come to a nought.

Nand Ram explains how he won three prizes

Banoo Apa treats us to hot home-made tea

That we got lucky would be an understatement. This explains why the awards function remains a dominant subject of conversation two days later – be it the multiple requests from all quarters to forward video clips of the hour-long programme, or Nahid Khan literally ‘blaming’ Nand Ram and Karun Sharma for bagging as many as three prizes each, or Bijoy Gupta claiming to have seen a photo in the papers of Zarina Khan presenting a bouquet to Johnny Lever … or Banoo Apa celebrating with a round of tea after the exercises this morning.
Gradually, it is getting to be business as usual.