Double Cheer

Tara Chand Seth (in blue stripes, right) is a funny man. He has quite an acerbic sense of humour and oddly enough, is also a stickler for time. So this morning, when he found that the exercises did not start at the dot of seven because Hari Singh Shekhawat had not yet turned up, he made his impatience known, in style. “Jab tak Shekhawat nahin aayega, saat nahin bajega,” he chortled, the time then being seven past seven.
Shekhawat showed up before long, looking young and sprightly as usual. Midway through the Laughter Round, suddenly Razia Khan remembered it was Shekhawat’s birthday today. So at the end of the exercises, we raised the customary fourth gun salute (oops! laughter) in Shekhawat’s honour, followed by the Happy Birthday chorus during which he also sang and wished himself (above) happily.
Later on, he explained why he was late today. He woke up late. He had a busy night at ushering in his birthday. His son was delayed at work and could just about make it before midnight. To complicate matters, Sajjan Kumar called up at night, inviting him and his wife for a kirtan session.
Well, there was Kiran Sajjan in the Garden, loaded with boxes and boxes of luddoos (above) from last night’s kirtan. From the looks of it, she had planned a box for every member, but upon seeing an unusually large group this morning – more than 30 actually – she decided to cut open the boxes and distribute the luddoos individually. Some took two, some three, some even five… and still the luddoos were not over.
Last seen, she was giving away luddoos to every Tom, D*** and Harry in the Garden.
Harish Wadhwa says:
As usual, I missed the luddoos again... LOL. (Mera number kab aayega?) Happy Birthday, dear Shekhawat-ji. You are the core member of our Club and we look forward to your guidance for many, many years to come. May you enjoy good health and happy days forever!
--Harish