Eid-e-Milad

Let us join in the celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad and wish one another the very best on this occasion. May the blessings of the Almighty be showered on you and all your dreams come true in a spirit of compassion, self-righteousness and dignity.
Among us, if there is anybody who needs divine intervention now and the strength to tide over a distressful situation, it would be Hari Naraiyani (below, left). For the past eight days, he has been at the mercy of the doctors at Kokilaben Hospital (see Renu Babani’s note of February 13), following the detection of an acute thyroid condition, coupled with kidney infection, in his wife. She was admitted to the ICU in a state of emergency and since then, this octagenarian gent has been running around and tending to her night and day all by himself – such that he did not even have the time to reach out and inform us. Luckily, his daughter and son-in-law got to know of his plight and have been giving him company for the past few days.
Last evening, Mrs Naraiyani was discharged from the hospital and Hari-bhai has brought her home. But his ordeal is far from over. As he says, the ailments have been brought "under control" but she would require protracted post-remedial care – which includes controlled diet, physiotherapy, nursing, etc. Strong medication has made her weak and beyond the daughter and her husband, the couple has no one to count on in this time of crisis. Yet, Hari-bhai made light of his situation and promised to "mark" his attendance in the Garden in the next few days. “I may be late by 10-15 minutes, but I will be there,” he kept saying cheerfully on the telephone.
Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet and dull day with the skies overcast (we had a light drizzle after the exercises) and attendance somewhat depleted due to the festival. Ladies like Khatoon Baig and Nazma Sayed showed up, while the two Khans, Nahid and Razia held fort in the middle. Ram Shankar Shukla (right) was also there, back from a nine-day trip to Kanpur where he had gone to leave his daughter. She had been on a holiday to Mumbai and even taken part in our exercises – just that her father did not introduce her to us then.