All’s Forgiven

Sunita Jajodia (left) must have had the shock of her life this morning when Srichand Arora (below right) went running across to her at the beginning of the laughter round and stood abruptly in front, hands folded. Her eyes popped out. We wondered, what now? But Arora-sah’b had other ideas. “Moonh khol ke toh hansiyeh!” he commanded.
Immediately, her face broke into a wide grin and we all rejoiced with her. At that very instant all the misgivings she might have had about being persecuted (see blog post, Sullen Protest of October 5) were laid to rest. This is Arora’s style of diffusing tension. He kept at it through the exercises, urging her jokingly, at times, to raise her arms higher (when there was no need to) and she refusing to.
Today belonged to Arora. In the absence of Shekhawat-ji and Yusuf-bhai, he was the man in charge, never missing an opportunity to pull a fast one. Tara Chand-ji tried to match him with his one-liners, especially on the songs being played. And then Dilip Babani came to add fuel to fire.
“Iss gaaney mein Sharmila Tagore ki saans kaisi bhari ho jati hai!” he commented, referring to the erotic Roop tera mastana number (from Aradhana) playing on the music system.
“Haan, saans badi zaroori hai,” was Arora’s ready rejoinder. “Ask the wives here and they’ll tell you.”
Some of the ladies went red in the face and Razia Khan quickly changed the topic: “Bilkul, saans mein sab kuchh hai. Now for full-rotation-of-the-neck, first clockwise, then anti-clockwise.”
Dilip-bhai stood by, hands on his waist, grinning mischievously.
When Sunita-ji left, she too had a big smile on her face. Looks like all's forgiven -- if not forgotten.

Renu Babani says:
Mr Arora is a wonderful man and good human being. He knows how to thaw a tense situation and get things back to normal. His attitude towards everyone is of being friendly and ensuring everyone does the same. Congratulations Mr Arora, another feather in your cap...
--Renu

Srichand Arora says:
Renu -ji, I appreciate your concern about me and am really very thankful to get such comments from you. But let me tell you, in case someone is tensed up in our group, all of us ought to try to release the tension by hook or by croooooooooooooook. That way all of us get congratulated. Yes, your remarks in my favour are welcome and ya keep it up! God bless you.
--Arora