‘Most Wanted’

Razia Khan

No one in the club has meant so many things to so many people.
To Kiran Arora, he is a doting husband. To the younger members, most notably Kajal Babani, he is a benign fatherly figure -- much as he has assured them that he will bequeath nothing to their name. To Laxmi Hadimani, he is simply 'uncle'. Somewhere along the way, Geeta Sardhana appropriated him as her brother…

Srichand Arora

Indeed, he is one gentleman on whom the maximum number of members have exercised some kind of a proprietorial claim.
And so, it came as no surprise when Razia Khan announced this morning that she was adopting Srichand Arora as her son. “Main godh le rahi hoon,” she declared valiantly at the start of the exercises.
Nobody could figure out the provocation, but everybody felt sorry for Razia. “It is fine you are adopting him,” Tara Chand said at last, shaking his head in disbelief. “But don’t keep him on your lap for too long,” he cautioned her.
But Razia was ecstatic. She assured him that she will bring up Arora as a good, able-bodied and educated young man. “Bahut pyar se, paal-pos ke badi karoongi,” she told all her well-wishers. “Where there is a will there is a way!” she added.

Santosh Tyagi distributes prasad after a puja for her son

It did not take long for Arora to show his true colours. Midway through the exercises he saw a young, shapely woman on the walking track, wearing a dark green t-shirt. “I want that t-shirt,” he said, pointing at the woman. Before Razia could reply, Arun Patil promised to get it from the market today. “No, I want that t-shirt,” Arora insisted.
Irritated, Nahid Khan blurted out: “Utarwaa dein? You want her to take off that t-shirt?”
That did not sound like a good idea. Alarmed, Arora instantly shut up – obviously terrified at the prospect of losing his own shirt in the bargain. He remained silent till the end, when Santosh Tyagi cheered him up with prasad from a Hanuman puja. It was her thanksgiving for her son’s recovery from a surgery recently.
After the prasad, Arora was back to playing the jolly good fella!