Maddening Mosquitoes

We were back to our old stomping ground in the middle of the Garden, much to the consternation of Dilip-bhai, Bhaswati, Sunita-ji (right) and others. Mosquitoes made a meal of us. Even the normally restrained Nahid Khan looked alarmed. “These are dengue mosquitoes,” she warned. “Let’s get back to the Chinese Hut.”
But today, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. There could be no going back. The Hut was stinking to high heavens and nobody could figure out where it was coming from. It was the stereophonic stink of a rotting carcass, coming from all directions. Even the green patch outside the Chinese Hut had become out-of-bounds – so foul was the smell.
Rather than investigate, we decided to abandon the area, only to be faced with the maddening mosquito menace.
At one stage, Sunita-ji got so worked up that she wanted to perform the exercises standing on a Garden bench (as though the mosquitoes would not attack her there). Tucking her saree between the legs was obviously not helping her enough and after a while, she just sat on a bench, cursing her fate. An ever-helpful Dilip-bhai advised her to wear stockings from tomorrow.
Not that Dilip-bhai (left) was in any way better placed. He was in his track pants and tee, but every time he had to laugh out loud, he ended up swatting mosquitoes trying to get into his mouth. Yet, he had a ready piece of advice for everybody: Don’t wear dark clothes because they attract mosquitoes, don’t stand there because there are insects, don’t stand here because there are ants… Geeta-ji once walked straight into him, hoping to find some relief closeby.
The only person above all this was Hari-bhai. Arora-ji was doing his little one-legged numbers, hitting mosquitoes at random and muttering, “Ek machchar aadmi ko kaisa nachata hai”. But Hari-bhai was already transported to another realm, blissfully singing along with the music system: “O duniya ke rakhwale, sun dard bhare mere naale…”

Renu Babani says:
Seriously, the Garden needs a complete clean-up. I know about the stench as it was there in the evening as well. Yes the grass is being cut, but other than that, there is no hygiene or cleaniless and it is rather depressing at times. Exercising in such an atmosphere does elevate anyone's fear of being bitten by an infected mosquito and falling sick. Despite all the complaints, grumblings and muttering under one's breath, we return each day because where else do we go? Where can we meet like this and enjoy as well? Maybe another petition is in order!
--Renu