Mr Forgetful

Srichand Arora

Something happened to Srichand Arora today.
He remembered to land in the Garden on time, but after that he was completely at sea. Blame it on advancing age or the terrible summer heat, he just could not get a grip on things.
He took charge in the middle only to skip one exercise after another, or repeat some time and again. Within seconds of doing a certain exercise, he wanted to do it again. And with no dearth of mischief makers around to misguide him, the outcome can well be imagined. Even Siba Prasad Maitra was eager to 'prompt' him and leave him utterly confused.
Now, this is nothing unusual. Memory lapses in the middle happen to the best of us – from Nahid Khan to Yusuf Rassiwala to Bose Babu to Razia Khan... But what defied explanation was Arora bringing Bijoy Gupta’s birthday present and completely forgetting about it.
He kept the table calendar, neatly gift-wrapped on a bench nearby and apparently went half-way home to fetch it. And then, were he not reminded about the calendar, Gupta would well have gone without it today.
The latter had proudly come with his wife, Pushpa and treated us to samosas, cake slices, potato wafers and hot tea and only then did we remember about the unattended calendar. Arora rushed out and did some damage control.
For the past few days, the man was arriving late because he had to drop his grandkids to school/ college early morning. Today, in being so punctual in the Garden, chances were he had left them in the lurch. We shall know tomorrow.

Pushpa gives Bijoy first bite of cake

Floral shower on 'birthday boy'

Bijoy Gupta receives calendar gift

Post Script: This post has been written in light vein. Please take it in the same spirit.

Bihari Milwani:
Why we say only Arora-ji had forgotten? In fact, we all were so anxious to have the eats that we forgot to remind Arora-ji to give the calendar. Well, at least Arora-ji remembered that today is Mr Gupta's birthday and he needs to give him the calendar. Cheers for Arora's good memory!
Harish Wadhwa:
Many, many happy returns of the day, Gupta-ji. Happy Birthday!
Srichand Arora:
Actually I was really out of mind this morning. Shayad bheje mein memory chip insert karna bhool gaya. Otherwise everyone knows what a sharp memory I have. HA HA HA!!!
Kiran Prakash:
The comments suggest that the post has been taken in the right spirit. Blog rocks! Happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day, Gupta-ji.