Palace Coup

Bijoy Gupta

Hari Singh Shekhawat

Yesterday, Kiran Prakash left on a short trip to Patna. Tomorrow, Teja Singh Bhambra will leave for a long sabbatical in Faridabad, his home town. In between, Shekhawat left for Rajasthan by train and as you read this, he should be resting in his ancestral home in a village near Jaipur. He is expected to return towards the end of this month.
Shekhawat’s absence from the Garden was no doubt felt, but in a strange sort of way. The spot he has always occupied in the circle during the exercises was left vacant, not as a mark of respect, but to signify what many chose to designate as Lover’s Spot. If there was anyone eager to fill that spot, it was Shekhawat’s arch rival and bete noire, Bijoy Gupta. And eventually, he did succeed.
Before leaving yesterday, Shekhawat laid down three strictures, the intent of which was not hidden from anybody. One, nobody should attempt to take his place during the exercises. Two, nobody must play proxy to his four saalis, no matter how compelling the circumstances may be.

Warm send-off to Sardar Teja Singh Bhambra

And three, nobody but he holds the right to lead the ‘joy train’ at the end of the free-hand exercises.
Always the agent provocateur, Gupta walked in determined to violate all three conditions. Finding a yawning gap at Lover’s Spot, he stepped in without blinking an eye. “Wah, what a beautiful view you get from here!” he exclaimed. Razia Khan tried to dissuade him, saying that Shekhawat would be terribly annoyed. “When he learns about this, he would surely blow his top,” she warned.
But Gupta couldn’t care less. The so-called Lover’s Spot automatically put him in a position with Shekhawat’s saalis flanking him all through the exercises. He even did a little cameo of the 'peacock dance' with Razia. That was the second rule violated. And when Ved Prakash Grover, Jagmohan Papneja and Mohar Singh, among others, demanded a treat for having wrested Shekhawat’s “crown”, Gupta again turned a deaf ear. “He has staged a coup in the king’s absence,” Razia concluded bitterly.
What remains now is the third rule to be broken. Watch this space.