Betting on Rain

Show me the vada-pao! Do you hear me???

Not just cricket. People in Mumbai bet on anything and everything – whether the next bus arriving would be of even number or odd, when the lights of a certain apartment would be switched on or off, the colour of the dress a colleague would come wearing to work, where the droppings of birds on a tree would fall…
So it came as no surprise when Mallika Kagzi declared this morning that it would rain any moment. What did come as a surprise though, was an otherwise reticent Karuna Waghmare stepping up to challenge her. “No way, it won’t rain today,” she said. “Want to bet?”
“Okay, how many rupees?”
“One vada-pao for everybody,” Karuna offered.
“No, two-two vada-paos,” Mallika insisted.
Everybody burst out laughing. The exercises came to an abrupt halt and all eyes went up. The sky was unusually clear, but for a few white fluffy clouds racing past. The sun was also breaking out on the eastern horizon. The odds were patently against Mallika and even Karuna gave her a sympathetic look. Mallika only smiled.
Within ten minutes everything changed. The sun disappeared and darkness fell. A dense cloud formation appeared at the north-west, rapidly moving towards us.

Karuna Waghmare narrates a 'pilot' joke

We could not believe our eyes, least of all Karuna. Mallika just smiled.
“A vada-pao cloud has arrived,” Jagmohan Papneja announced jokingly. “It will rain now.”
Sure enough, within moments we were treated to a sudden shower and then, it was all over. Those who had run for shelter, returned for the exercises. It was bright and sunny once again. “That was not rain,” Karuna protested.
Mallika pounced on her. “Then what was it? Now don’t go back on your word. You lost the bet. So order vada-pao right away.”
“Nobody even felt the rain,” Karuna argued. “What kind of rain was that?”
Everyone crowded around the two ladies, enjoying their squabble. It boiled down to how do you define rain. Fact is we all got properly wet in that passing shower. And Karuna, for the life of her, could not understand why she should pay for everybody getting wet. Conversely, Mallika was unable to convince Karuna to be a woman of her word. In the end, a compromise was reached with Karuna being made to narrate a joke for everyone’s benefit.
One question however, remained unanswered: How the hell did Mallika 'know' that it would rain today? Or was that rainfall rigged?
Bihari Milwani:
Karuna should have known that Mallika is a very influential lady. She can exercise her influence even on Lord Varun ('god of rain') for doing the needful.