Knocked Out

Jagmohan Papneja

Jagmohan Papneja is blessed with a wicked, if understated, sense of humour that can deliver a knockout punch at times. This morning he produced a gem when a monkey paid us a visit at the Garden. Yes, a long-tailed monkey. It took position up on the high cricket fence and then walked across nonchalantly against a swarm of agitated crows. At the end of the stretch, it slid down a pole and disappeared into the bushes.
“It has gone to wear its clothes,” remarked Papneja.
No one realized the import of that comment till a few minutes later one of our members (name withheld) joined us from the walking track for the laughter round.

Mallika Kagzi with her sister, Azeeza

For a change today, he was dressed in full-pants, instead of shorts. All along he had been watching us exercising, but refused to join us. So when he took his position fully dressed, Papneja asked innocently, “Neechey kab utrey?” When did you get down?
That is Jagmohan Papneja – a man of many parts, from whom we can learn a lot. Where Arora had failed (he almost chucked a stone at that recalcitrant member today) and Shekhawat has had to haul him physically into the exercise circle, Papneja used plain wit to shame the man. He got the message, but played deaf.
Another highlight of the morning was the visit of Mallika Kagzi’s younger sister, Azeeza. She was introduced as a friendly neighbor, but there was no mistaking their relationship from her behavior and body language.

Swati Punjabi feeds Monthi the first luddoo

She had come ostensibly to watch us exercise, but from the amused look on her face all through, it was clear she was more interested in our antics.

Arun Patil

Besides, Swati Punjabi was celebrating her daughter’s wedding with home-made luddoos, maththi and tea. So Azeeza, like the rest of us, had no reason to be disappointed.
If anyone had to be disappointed, it was Arun Patil. In his eagerness to serve tea and amid all the rejoicing and disorder, he has lost his tiny white music system. He does not know how. It is an expensive piece. More importantly, the collection of songs on the USB is priceless. Maybe it got misplaced and he cannot remember… or perhaps, it got knocked off by some thief. Through this blog, we appeal to the conscience of every right-thinking person to help find the damn thing and return it to its rightful owner.
Kiran Prakash:
I wish and pray that Mr Arun Patil gets back his music system. It has worked as a catalyst during our exercises.
Jagmohan Papneja:
The moment I read the above post, the first thing I did was to thoroughly check my bag in the hope that somebody might have hidden the music system there for fun. But unfortunately nothing was found inside the bag. I hope Arun-ji is able to recover this valuable item. If not, it will be a matter of great concern for all of us.