Hum Dono

Not all movies can be expected to generate the kind of response as Yamla Pagla Deewana – the last movie outing for the Club on January 15 (see post) It was a super success right from the word go. But to expect all members to be similarly predisposed with a ‘digitally restored and colorized film’ of 1960s’ vintage was a bit unrealistic on Yusuf Rassiwala’s part.
So what if the film happens to be Hum Dono? So what if we’d be seeing two Dev Anands on screen for the price of one? So what if its songs still rule the airwaves? So what if the movie was a major blockbuster of its time? And so what if we aren’t exactly young and cherishing memories from a bygone era? Actually, Yusuf-bhai was counting on this nostalgia factor to get members enthused for the matinee (3:15 p.m.) show of the movie at Cinemax today.
“Joona picture hai,” proclaimed 81-year-old Hari Naraiyani, speaking for most of the members. “Main toh kabhi nahin dekhoonga!”
“Main toh Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji dekhoongi,” pleaded Kiran Sajjan (left), referring to the latest laugh riot released last week.
“Dil abhi bachcha nahin hai ji,” countered Santosh Tyagi, about the only one interested in watching Hum Dono. “Dil bada ho gaya. Aur buddhaa bhi ho gaya ji!”
Eventually Kiran came around, as did a few others like Sitaram, Shukla, Grover, Monthi and Mumtaj. (Arora, Kishor, Shekhawat, etc. were conspicuous by their absence.) What summarily sealed the fate of the film was Yusuf-bhai’s last-minute instruction to go buy tickets individually from the booking counter and find seats inside the hall. The objective of a group outing got diluted that very moment, leading to the low turnout. Each was on his/her own.
Earlier in the morning, Geeta Lathe (right) sprung a surprise by showing up at the Garden after almost two years. She is known to be Shekhawat-ji’s pet and seeing her, he could not help remarking, “Arrey, aaj toh kamaal ho gaya!” No, she is not married, nor has she relocated out of Bombay. “Main toh idhar-itch thi,” said the girl, who has always been somewhat of an enigma to everybody.

Friday Fiesta

How would you describe the occasion: A felicitation? Homecoming? Family reunion? Grand reception? Rousing welcome? Naah… something doesn’t fit in. But then, does it really matter? What mattered was that the Babanis, Kishor and Renu were celebrating the visit of their daughter, Harsha and her husband, Avinash from Canada. They were introduced together to the Club for the first time this morning.
Hence the occasion.
Hence also, for Mrs Harbans Singh to greet the couple with a bouquet of flowers, on behalf of the Club. Hence the cutting of cake as well – the legend, ‘WELCOME TO INDIA, Harsha and Avinash’ prominently displayed. Hence, yet again, for Hari Singh Shekhawat to burn the wires and ensure a record attendance of over 50 well-wishers at the Chinese Hut to bless the young couple.
It was by far the most spectacular show of warmth and conviviality by a group as disparate as ours, yet bound together by an ‘invisible thread’ – to borrow Renu’s well-meaning phrase. And Kishor, short of buying over Jagruti (the sweetshop somewhere near Andheri Station) had a huge feast laid out in anticipation of the massive turnout. There was everything you’d find in a confectioner’s lexicon, from the staple phapra-jalebi to oven-fresh dhoklas, samosas, gulab-jamuns, potato wafers and godknowswhat. Name it and you got it. Except tea.
What however, left a bad taste was the presence of habitual gate-crashers, in spite of Shekhawat having clarified earlier in the morning that the party was meant exclusively for members. He even identified four women (without naming them) who were not welcome and yet they were seen, along with a couple of others, partaking of the food in the Chinese Hut. Fortunately, Kishor-bhai had provided for this contingency – something not many can afford. And that could lead to ugly confrontations in future.
On the positive side, the most heartwarming aspect of today’s party was the presence of Arun Patil (left) – who arrived rather late, just as we were winding up. This gentleman has come back literally from the door of death – not once, but twice. The first time was when he had to be airlifted from Indore (see post of October 23, 2010) in a partially paralytic state after his blood sugar level had shot to an impossible 700mg/dl. Miraculously, he recovered from there, only to land himself in deeper distress for experimenting with herbal medication prescribed by some stupid quack. Timely hospital intervention again saved his life – and his diabetic foot from being amputated.
To have Arun-bhai back in our midst after a long time – looking healthier and more cheerful – was an incredibly emotional moment for many of us.

Renu Babani says:
On behalf of the entire Babanis, I would like to thank everyone for attending today's party at the Chinese Hut. It meant a lot to us that each one of you made the effort to come out in the morning and bless the young couple. Today will remain with us forever -- the very fact that all of you proved to us what true friends are and the real family we are made up of in such happy times. Harsha and Avinash were all praise for you, stating that we have such lovely friends and we are so lucky. Yes, we are lucky. I have always said that and am ever so grateful. What made it worthwhile is that everyone had a blast and I am sure, today's event will be remembered for all time. Thanks again, and let's keep our ties going strong forever!
--Renu
Anonymous says:
Awesome fun! I wish I would have been there, but had school. That is why I couldn't come. Hope to make it next time.
--Anon
Kajal Babani adds:
Awesome fun with Avi and Harsuni!
Your warm-hearted welcome for the couple was appreciated. Thank you!
--Kajal

Membership Rule

Since the beginning of this year, life has been on the fast lane at the Club. So many activities are taking place on the sidelines of our morning exercises that it comes as little surprise when strangers try to infiltrate our ranks, pretending to be members. Even otherwise, during the exercise sessions, we are seeing a couple of fresh faces every other day. The trouble with these wannabes is that they are neither serious about exercising nor consistent in their daily attendance. They do not even introduce themselves. More often than not, these mysterious beings vanish as suddenly as they appear.
Today, Shekhawat-ji (below, right) announced some basic ground rules for membership to the Club. He said that while we would continue to abide by an open-door policy, it is imperative that every new entrant attends the exercise sessions for at least three continuous months (subject to personal exigencies) to ‘qualify’ as a member in all other activities of the Club. A review would be made of the attendance every March, June, September and December and accordingly, a decision would be taken on enlisting the person or not. The membership list will thus be revised every three months.
Shekhawat-ji however, made no mention of existing ‘members’ (in the list) who have altogether ceased to show up in the Garden. Even then, by formally spelling out the ground rules, he has removed the major irritant of gatecrashers at our little celebrations in the Chinese Hut. Since everybody knows everybody, it becomes embarrassing (especially for the hosts) to weed out uninvited guests when they plonk themselves in the midst of regular members. As a result, there is always a risk of running out of food (it is no joke sourcing fresh eatables at 7.00 in the morning) and genuine invitees have to make do with leftovers. No amount of appealing to the conscience and good sense of the gatecrashers has helped so far. Hopefully, things would change from now on.
Tomorrow, we shall know. Watch this space.

February Flick

After the fabulous experience of Yamla Pagla Deewana on January 15 (see post), it's time to take a call for this month’s movie. As of now, the buzz is for Hum Dono – the 1961 classic which was the last black-and-white production of Navketan Films. Now, 50 years later, it is being released in colour, as ‘Rangein Hum Dono’ this Friday.
The film, which is Dev Anand’s tribute to the Indian army, is best known to present-day movie buffs for its evergreen musical hits, the most popular being ‘Main zindagi ke saath nibhata chala gaya’. There are other equally haunting numbers like ‘Abhi na jaao chhod ke’ and ‘Allah tero naam, Eishwar tero naam’ penned by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by Jaidev. It was upon listening to the latter song on Kishor Babani’s mobile the other day that Yusuf Rassiwala hit upon the idea of herding members of the Club to watch the new Hum Dono at Cinemax.
Response however, remains sharply divided. Many would want to watch the film out of a sense of nostalgia, the colorization notwithstanding. On the other hand, there are some (particularly, the ladies) who couldn’t care about a dated film when several modern-day comedies like Masti Express, Utt Pataang, Kachcha Limboo and Tanu Weds Manu are up for release. The only trouble here is that none of these new titles sound inspiring enough. And all the big ticket releases, i.e. non-comedies like Patiala House and Saat Khoon Maaf are for ‘adults only’. So, no grandkids and family. In other words, the odds are that we go for Rangein Hum Dono this Saturday.
Other than this, the morning was unusually peaceful and quiet with Nahid Khan and Yusuf-bhai sharing time in the middle for the exercises. It was so peaceful and quiet that when Khatoon Baig (right) made a passing remark about nobody talking or laughing today, Yusuf-bhai pulled her up promptly: “Teacher, baatein nahin”. Srichand Arora was saying how well-behaved we were and he too got it from Yusuf-bhai. As one who must have the last word, he caught his ears in mock seriousness and turned to Khatoon-ji: “Dekho, aapke liye mujhe daant khaani padi!”
The lady did not respond.

Double Hundred!

We have just struck a double-century with our 200th post in blogosphere. This is a major milestone in a journey that began barely six months back with a brief write-up on our Club in the local edition of The Times of India (see Blog Archive alongside). Thereafter, with a report on a picnic at Kalyani Village Resort on June 20, 2010, we moved ahead in fits and starts, until we gathered momentum in August. And by October, we were fully on-stream, with a post every day, seven days a week.
Today, we have secured a fairly decent score of close to 11,500 page views, with visitors from all over the world checking what we do every morning at the Garden. Just to give an idea of what this figure implies, consider a Boeing 747 aircraft, having a normal capacity of 416 passengers. A figure of 11,500 means that as many as 27 plane-loads of people have visited this blog so far – from places as far out as Slovenia, Brazil, Japan, Poland and France. Of late, traffic is increasing from Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Switzerland, Pakistan and the Philippines – not to mention, the very loyal visitors from the USA, U.K., Australia and Canada. (If only these guys could also post their observations/ comments/ criticism from now on...)
While a celebration was in order for the double-hundred score (above, left), we did miss some regulars like Kishor and Renu Babani, Yusuf Rassiwala, Santosh Tyagi, Sunita Jajodia and Harish Wadhwa. Of all the days, they had to be absent today. It was in fact, a double celebration this morning, since P.Motwani (above, right) also treated us to luddoos for his birthday (which was yesterday). And as though these were not enough, there was yet another occasion to rejoice. It was Vasudev Bhateja’s (left) birthday today. Had he also decided to give us a treat, it would have become a serious problem of plenty.
As always, our good wishes go to him – for a long, peaceful and contented life.

Ramila Mistry says:
Congratulations Big Laaf! You've been amazing with your daily updates in the blog. Keep up your sincere efforts!
--Ramila
Aahuti Mistry says:
Heartiest Congratulations to the entire Laughing Club and for all the amusing content!
--Aahuti
Bhaswati Bose says:
Excellent lead photograph by Dilip-bhai! But why are Sitaram-ji, Arora-ji and Shekhawat-ji looking so glum? And Renu, we missed you.
--Bhaswati
Srichand Arora says:
BIG LAAF, CONGRATULATIONS FOR CREATING THIS HISTORY. WITHOUT YOU THIS BLOG WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. ON BEHALF OF ALL THE MEMBERS, I MUST SAY WE ARE ALL THANKFUL TO YOU. DO KEEP IT UP!
--S.V.Arora
Big Laaf replies:
Thank you ALL for your generous praise, though much of it is undeserved. The real credit for keeping this blog alive and sustaining it, day after day, rests entirely on ALL the members of OUR Laughing Club. I am a mere chronicler of what transpires every morning. I have no other contribution to make. The actual inputs come from the exuberant, carefree souls who people the posts. Without them there would be no blog. No Big Laaf.
Special mention must however, be made of Srichand Arora (above, right) for his unstinted support and being selflessly encouraging from Day 1 (when incidentally, he was at Singapore); of Kishor Babani, our gyan-guru for adding sparkle to the pages with his daily witticisms; of Nahid Khan and Razia Khan for being at the heart of everything in the Club; of Yusuf Rassiwala for being the sheet anchor, the voice of reason in the Garden; of Hari Singh Shekhawat, the very life-force of the Club... not-to-forget Renu Babani (left), for being a trusted sounding board with her regular and highly incisive comments; and of course, the others... Sorry, for not mentioning each by name as words fail me in expressing my gratitude to EVERYBODY.
Let's continue to have fun!
--Big Laaf