Washed Out

Now we know what a cloudburst means. One moment it is warm sunshine and the next, the heavens open up. We had to abandon the exercises midway through the breathing round and run helter-skelter to take shelter under the trees. When the downpour persisted, we had no option but to converge at the Chinese Hut, dripping wet.
Nobody had come prepared with an umbrella and worse, for the forced confinement. The hut was packed to the rafters. Arora-sah’b tried to enliven the atmosphere by putting on some music, but it only increased the jostling inside. Outside, the rainfall only got worse with every passing minute. Even after an hour, when it showed no signs of abating, people started venturing out, one by one.
But then, as they say, there’s a silver lining to every cloud. And the forced confinement turned to be a blessing in disguise for many as they got to interact with one another. Names could be put to some faces we get to see every morning. Ladies united over discussing the fate of clothes hung out to dry, while men bonded over the possibility of ordering chai (if not booze) with pakoras while it rained. The next door Celebration Club is supposed to serve cheap liquor!
The biggest discovery though, was the hidden talent in Harish Kumar Wadhwa (left), who showed up today after a long time. In the course of conversation with Yusuf-bhai and Bose, this engineer from BITS, Pilani revealed that he is a proficient actor who had done stage plays, street theatre, etc. during his student days. He is a big fan of the theatre legend, Badal Sircar (incidentally, another engineer) and had staged Pagla Ghoda, one of his most difficult plays. If there’s one thing Harish-bhai misses after coming to Mumbai, it is doing theatre. Pressures of work do not permit him to pursue his pet love.
Such enlightening conversations would perhaps not have been possible had it not rained the way it did this morning. Talk of turning adversity into advantage!

Renu Babani says:
Yes, what a downpour! I can imagine everyone running everywhere for shelter. However, it has turned cooler, so that is a relief. I do apologise for not attending, but somehow seem unable to get up in the morning. Anyone with a remedy, please let me know.
--Renu

Bhaswati Bose says:
We have good singers and some very good dancers. Now we have an actor amongst us. This Club is full of chhupey rustoms!
--Bhaswati