Making Hey-Hey…

Everybody is a jokester these days

Mallika's chai and jokes go together

Whatever anybody might say about the summer this year, we have figured out that the only way to beat the heat is to make ‘hey-hey’ as the sun shines. This was after one week and three unsuccessful attempts at dodging the sun in the Garden during the exercises. No matter where we relocated ourselves, there could be no escape from the blazing sun poring over us as the morning wore on. For the present though, we have found a shaded patch under the trees, not very far from our old stomping ground. But this is just a temporary reprieve.
In the circumstances, the jokes’ session after the exercises has assumed great importance. What used to be a casual time-pass – depending on whether Santosh Tyagi would come equipped with her ‘notes’ – has now become an everyday affair. What’s more, everybody is a jokester these days. Even an otherwise reticent Kajal Babani is coming up with some terrific gems – not to mention her husband Dilip as well as Banoo Apa and Yusuf Rassiwala… leaving us all reeling and roaring in laughter.
The ring leader is of course, Siba Prasad Maitra. With a natural gift of the gab, his very presence in the Garden has become the cause of much mirth, long before he can even utter a word. As one to disapprove the practice of ‘reading out’ jokes, he went on to narrate a long-winded whodunit today that many would have heard earlier. But everybody waited with bated breath for him to finish. As always, it is Maitra’s style of narration that makes stale jokes sound fresh.
This is however, not to undermine the style or talent of the others – be it Banoo Apa’s deadpan humour, Bijoy Gupta’s rapidfire gags, Dilip Babani’s dramatic punchlines, Yusuf Rassiwala’s cerebral teasers, Bhaswati Bose’s penchant for mimicry… just about anything to draw out a few hey-hey ha-has while the sun shines!