Lights. Camera. Laughter.

After Hari Singh Shekhawat yesterday, it was Tara Chand Seth’s (below right) turn to say ‘Ta-Ta Bye-Bye’ to us. He takes the Rajdhani Express this evening to be with his extended family of children and grandchildren in Delhi. He will be back by December, after celebrating Dussehra and Diwali.
Before leaving, Tara Chand was witness to an amusing spectacle, following a TV crew landing unannounced in the Garden to film us during the exercises. The camera was propped at a discreet distance (lead pic), away from the visual range of most members. But so self-conscious had they all become that even those known to sleepwalk through the exercises became hyper alert today and began to deliberately emote for the camera.
It began with simple attention grabbers like laughing out-of-turn or for extra long. Some tried to bust their vocal chords by laughing so loud that they quite surprised themselves. Others made desperate monkey faces when all they had to do was inhale and hold their breath. A few settled for exaggerated body movements in slow motion. One lady was seen rotating like a weather cock, eyes wildly scanning the hedges to check if the camera was pointed in her direction.
It was a hilarious sight – the anxiety to be seen on screen and bask in those 15 milli-seconds of fame. And by some strange coincidence, they had all come dressed in their colorful best (left pic) as though they were prepared for the filming today.
What eventually got captured on camera, nobody knows. But obviously some had succeeded in creating an impression because they were given ‘talking parts’ soon after the exercises. Sitaram Hivarkar, Dilip Babani, Najma Sayyad and Harish Wadhwa among others spoke some corny lines into camera, like “Krishna-Kahani Comedy Circus Ka se…” and “Dilip Joshi-Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma Se…” Others just hung around in the background like extras.
Turns out that this was a shoot for the Indian Television Awards -- to be telecast on Star TV.
Harish Wadhwa:
Ha Ha... great Blog Monster! What a narration of the incident!!! I especially liked the way you wrote how a "lady was seen rotating like a weather cock, eyes wildly scanning the hedges to check if the camera was pointed in her direction..." Wow! I could not stop smiling for a long time reading it. Very well written. You forgot mentioning that somebody provoked the owner so much that he had to crash into the Garden with an open shirt and that people are still hunting for him.