Odd Man Out

Gupta faces Mallika's wrath

After yesterday's dramatic dressing down (ref post), Bijoy Gupta came today ‘decently' dressed. In place of his trademark singlet, he came wearing a proper T-shirt. But he was still wearing half-pants – an eye sore for Mallika Kagzi. Short of taking those offensive knickers off, she went after him hammer and tongs, directing that he quit the Garden forthwith. Completely at a loss for words, Gupta realized that he had unleashed the fury of heaven and hell combined and wisely chose to keep his counsel and smile foolishly.
It did not take Gupta long to discover that he was the odd man out this morning since everyone else (including Bose Babu) had come “with their legs fully covered”. Still, he could not fathom how exposing barely a few inches of his legs (“from the hem of his shorts to the elastic of his socks”) could invite charges of indecent exposure.

Mallika entreats Gupta with delicacies from Hyderabad

His other argument, which also fell into deaf ears, was that he was the "indisputable lion of the club" (as per the lion-lioness laughter round) and even the President of India cannot make a lion wear full pants!
In the end, he tried hard to negotiate with Mallika: “I will wear full pants, but on one condition. You first get all the ladies to wear shorts from tomorrow and I will follow your orders from the day-after.” He was promptly served with an ultimatum to fall in line by Monday, or else…
In all this display of fire and fury, Mallika was to reveal her kindhearted side also as she went on to entreat Gupta with the goodies she had brought from her recent Hyderabad trip. Gupta sulked initially, blinking at Mallika like a scolded child and then gorged with the rest on the piles of pudding, cup cakes, baklawas and biscuits. And if that were not enough, there was Swati Punjabi providing the proverbial icing on the top with ladles of suji ka halwa. Who could have asked for more!