Back to Place

Inertia comes with age. And sticking to the status quo speaks of multiple insecurities. But for us, to resist leaving the concrete area outside the China Hut (now that the rains are over) and return to a grass surface for the exercises had nothing to do with a fear of the unknown. It had more to do with the fear of keedas.
So today, many put their foot down when Srichand Arora, Shekhawat and other ‘youngsters’ led us to our old stomping ground in the middle of the Garden. The monsoon had left our patch lush green, the grass glistening in the early morning sunshine and it was more airy out there than where we had been exercising till yesterday. But Sunita Jajodia, Mallika Kagzi and a few other ladies refused to budge out of the China Hut. Ved Prakash Grover shuffled across to hang out with his friends, much to Shekhawat’s amusement. Only after we were half-way through the laughter round, did they trickle in one by one.
But their protests did not end there. They found the grass too damp for comfort. The ground was too soggy, they complained. Some looked for booby traps in the form of potholes and jutting stones meant to “disbalance” them. Bhaswati Bose stood apart to exercise, imagining there were snakes and scorpions hiding in the grass. Monthi Serrao was at her wits' end searching for the creepy-crawlies and could not understand why most of the “ghaas-phoos wallahs” (read vegetarians) were afraid of the grass. “No, not the grass,” Kajal Babani exclaimed. “It’s what lies hidden in the grass…” Such was the prevailing paranoia that left to themselves they would have even seen ghosts hanging from every tree in the Garden.
Somehow they survived the morning and also said a thanksgiving prayer in the end. But tomorrow, we shan’t be surprised if some of them come marching in wearing gumboots and helmets… just in case.
Jagmohan Papneja:
We may not admit it, but we are all plagued with fearful tendencies. Due to this reason some of the members did hesitate to go back to the former place for laughter yoga. How can we convince them that there is no need to worry about unknown fear?