Good and Bad

Monthi Serrao must account for every rupee received!

Who reads this blog? Who are the people driving its numbers? Given the counted few among us who are internet savvy and can claim direct access to computers at home, these questions have dogged the blog from its inception. And now that we are inching towards 300,000 page views, the questions assume greater relevance.
Well, apart from old loyalists (known to regular followers) there are some unlikely people like Monthi Serrao who sees the blog every day on her way to church. (Or else Harish Wadhwa wouldn’t have got his chikkis on Thursday.)

Bihari Milwani

Nahid Khan is also a self-confessed convert. So is Sunita Jajodia. There are also the crows who found mention in yesterday’s post. (Or else they wouldn’t have flown in today in greater numbers.) And the much maligned music box (also yesterday’s post), which put up a spectacularly, trouble-free performance today… When there are such wonderful readers out there, why should we ever look at numbers?

Worried: Santosh Tyagi

But Monthi must, because she is the treasurer of the Club. These are busy times for her and she has to not only square up last year's accounts, but generate funds for the current financial year. Subscriptions for membership renewal are pouring in and she has to also issue receipts and deposit the cash collected in the bank from time to time. These are all ‘honorary’ activities she undertakes uncomplainingly for which we can only extend our gratitude but no remuneration. But then, she would soon have a professional number cruncher by her side – Bihari Milwani, a CA who has consented to advise us on financial matters and audit the Club’s accounts at the end of the year.
That’s the good part of the morning. The bad part was that Santosh Tyagi has been detected with gall stones which might require surgical removal. This has made her mighty nervous. But she suppresses her anxiety by joking that her stomach is loaded with stones – that there is factory inside which manufactures calculi only. Eager to be one-up on her, Srichand Arora retorted immediately: “My stomach has a steel plant. It produces steel bars only!” Some people can never get serious in life.
Harish Wadhwa:
You will be fine Santosh-ji. Gall stones are a common problem and it has a painless surgical solution, even if you have to go for one. Don't worry at all, you will be fine and back into the Garden in just a couple of days or a week. We are all with you and so are the blessings of the Almighty.