‘One-Boy, One-Girl’

Exercising THEN...

...and exercising NOW

Over the past one week, the Club has acquired a new egalitarian look as we exercise in the Garden. Gone are the days when men took up one half of the circle and women, the other half. No inter-mingling was allowed. An unwritten rule stipulated that the sexes ought to be segregated during the exercises and there can be absolutely no question of a male crossing over to the female half of the circle, and vice-versa.
That rule no longer exists. Today, the circle is formed with men and women alternating, or what in Nahid Khan’s words is the ‘One-Boy One-Girl’ formation. Consequently, every person is flanked by a member of the opposite sex on either side -- the idea being that conversation during the exercises is kept to a minimum. The major chatterboxes among women, who had formed little groups among themselves while the exercises were on, could not be separated by any other way.
However, what has come to pass is that instead of the private banter and suppressed titters women used to exchange (which, no doubt, were distracting to curious men) we are having a good deal of cross-talk and shouting during the exercises. A casual remark raised by say, Razia Khan for her friend, Mallika Kagzi at another end of the circle, now becomes a proclamation with Mumtaz Jahan replying out-of-turn at the top of her voice and before long, everyone joins issue, one outshouting the other.
This happens three or four times every morning. While Shekhawat is having a field day, a silly comment that could be dismissed with a smile between two ladies standing in close proximity now becomes a major public discourse. And willy nilly the molehill becomes a mountain. Maybe, this is also entertainment to many, but a number of ladies (significantly, the late comers) are not liking it. As Mumtaz put it frankly: “What is this new panga? We come to the Garden to talk, but now we cannot even do that!” Surely, time will tell.
Harish Wadhwa:
Looking at the Thought of the Day, I sincerely recommend Bose-babu and Arora-ji to take up a working assignment at some petrol pump.
Bhaswati Bose:
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Harish. They should remain there till they kick the (smoking) habit.