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.