Yo-Yo Attendance

The Club seems to be afflicted by a strange phenomenon that causes attendance to swing between extremes. There’s no midway. On a good day, we could be faced with an embarrassment of numbers with people literally spilling out of our defined circle in the Garden – even crowding the hedges alongside. On another day, for no particular reason, the turnout would drop so drastically that it would appear there’s been a conspiracy to boycott the exercises. So like today, when a few members did not show up, seniors like Srichand Arora, Sitaram Hivarkar and Santosh Tyagi also decided to absent themselves. (Or was it the other way around?) We can never know how word gets around them so early in the morning. In effect, from an over-full house yesterday and the day-before (we had lost count of those present), we found ourselves reduced to less than 20 this morning – many of them non-members.
The good thing though, was Mrs Shekhawat (pic above) showing up after a long, long time. We were told that she was not keeping well and had been advised against exerting herself in any manner. But today, since her husband had left behind his spectacles by mistake, she found an excuse to come to the Garden and deliver them. It also gave her the opportunity to catch up with old friends.
On the flip side, we shall be missing Hari Naraiyani (right) for some time. He is leaving today for Beas, a riverfront township in Punjab, close to Amritsar. He has an appointment with his spiritual guru and shall be spending time in an ashram. We wish him a safe and happy trip.
Renu Babani's PICSPEAK:
* "We have a surprise today. So nice to see her after so long!"
* "If anyone dares to say I am old, they will have to answer to me!"
Harish Wadhwa:
* Like Mrs Shekhawat who brought the spectacles which Shekhawat-ji forgot at home, I wish someone would have come to the Garden with the cap from my home too. Needlessly, I got brickbats from member colleagues (Hee hee)!
[I can already hear someone say, "Harish, go climb a tree... and branch out!"]
* Very few people might know how creative Arun-bhai is in the film-arts or how lively Kishor-da is at his jokes or Bose-babu is at his comments and pleasing company. How about lunch or dinner to chill out on this Sunday?
* Hey, we are nearing another milestone of 90,000 views and should touch it tomorrow. Just great, Monster... I mean Blog Monster!