Half Celebration

A mother celebrates her son's birthday

Luck smiled upon us again when Santosh Tyagi announced it was her son’s birthday today. Manoj Tyagi was fast asleep at home. But being a conscientious mother, she had already instructed Arun Patil last night to get tea in a thermos flask from Goregaon. This is a rare luxury for us after the exercises and together with the cookies and soya crispies Santosh had brought along, we had a jolly good ‘half celebration’ in the Garden. Had the birthday boy also shown up, our joy would have been complete.
Earlier, before the exercises started, Santosh had to endure a spot of embarrassment as everyone applauded her for turning up with her head uncovered (ref post of November 17). Red faced, she kept smacking her forehead and apologized for forgetting to wear the Club cap today, but nobody was listening.

Sunita Jajodia

The rumble grew into a roar as some of the otherwise quieter ladies also jumped into the fray, clapping and jeering with the rest. Santosh rarely makes a slip-up in public and this was probably their only chance to have some fun at her expense.
But Santosh should not have really bothered. She could easily have drawn comfort from another ‘capless wonder’, Sunita Jajodia. But Santosh being Santosh, rushed to her friend’s defence and declared her to be her ‘guest’ for the morning. And Sunita being Sunita, promptly covered her head with her saree pallu, arguing that it should serve the purpose of a cap. So we were briefly treated to the extraordinary spectacle of what looked like a coy bride in saree in our midst, merrily exercising with us!
Nevertheless, it must be said that in spite of persistent pain in her arms, Sunita sportingly took part in the exercises, if only to keep everybody amused. That she has misplaced her cap at home is a minor matter. Her granddaughter, she says, would be able to retrieve it. More important, Sunita must take care of her arms and get well soon.