Damage Undone

Shekhawat leads the joy train with Prakash at the rear as guard 

Shekhawat today undid the damage done by Bijoy Gupta last Saturday (read post). Not only did he drive his own ‘train’, he also prevented the latter from boarding it. What’s more, he deployed a guard armed with a green flag at the rear end to ensure that no unsavory element gets a ride on his joy train!
Quite clearly, a lot of thought had gone into this during the past two days. Shekhawat even made sure that a saali followed him just one step behind, lest someone again tried to waylay her. But the green flag was entirely Kiran Prakash’s idea.

Najma Sayyad pays us
a surprise visit

He bought the fabric yesterday especially for this purpose and much to Shekhawat’s delight, gifted him a ready made guard’s flag before the exercises. Prakash himself officiated as the guard, thus preempting all possibility of any mischief maker getting into the way. In the end, it was a perfectly executed operation that brought back the smile on Shekhawat’s face.
What Shekhawat does not realise is that there never was any conspiracy to deprive him of his saalis, let alone usurp his position in the Club.

Yusuf Rassiwala discusses Piku with Banoo Apa

Knowing how possessive he is about the ladies, some seniors hatched the prank behind his back (when he was away at Mahabaleshwar) in which the full Club was complicit. Gupta merely played the fall guy. But even he did not expect Shekhawat to take it so seriously and blow his top. He was literally trembling with rage, spouting expletives, at which point, Gupta sensibly backed off. It was no longer funny.
Now that peace had been restored, attention shifted to the movie Yusuf Rassiwala treated some members to on Sunday. Banoo Apa, Dilip Babani and Bhaswati Bose were all praise for Piku and thanked Yusuf profusely for the tickets he had arranged. In his own discreet, unassuming manner, Yusuf had done something unique that cannot be reciprocated. As he explained, the movie “raised a mirror in front of all elderly people” that he wanted us to also see. Indeed, were it not for his kindness and generosity, many of us would have missed watching Piku.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd) from Mohali:
This is the beauty of our 'Laafter Club'. Shekhawat-ji is again at the helm. No competition. All is well that ends well.