Morning Melody

Bunty Bhai holds his audience spellbound

For a change today, the morning was filled with lilting melody and pure nostalgia. Instead of just jokes, we had a couple of singers from the Garden joining us in the post-exercise session and on request, rendering a few yesteryear hits that could only leave us asking for more.
Vasudev Bhateja is of course, a familiar voice to all, having earned the reputation of a flawless Mukesh soundalike. But oddly enough, he started out with a vintage Kishore Kumar number today -- Mere mehboob qayamat hogi from Mr X in Bombay (1964).

Happy Birthday, Shekhawat

Hearing him from a distance, a young man in red T-shirt abandoned his workout and came up to us to pitch some more chartbusters – the most haunting one being the Mohammad Rafi classic, Abhi na jaao chhod kar from Hum Dono (1961).

Mallika announces Housie

Turns out that Bunty Bhai is a professional singer, having an orchestra group of his own and is known to several members of Big Laaf.
The bigger event of the day though, was Nafisa Sayyed’s visit to the Garden. It is more than two years since she had shifted to Pune and looked as cheerful and sprightly as we saw her last. She however, complained of a worsening diabetes condition, which might necessitate an eye surgery.

Luddoos from Nafisa Sayyed

Otherwise, she maintained that all is hunky-dory with her, the family business (in textile trade) is expanding (“We have three shops now in Pune”) and that she had come with a box of luddoos to share her happiness with us. She said she would be returning to Pune tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Mallika Kagzi announced that a Housie Session is being organized in the China Hut on Saturday, April 30 soon after the exercises and that it would be open to non-members also. A revenue-generation initiative, she explained that “Housie shall henceforth be a regular feature of the Club and be held on the last Saturday of every month”. She would however, be away at Surat from April 29 and not be able to attend the first session this weekend.
In all this, we had clean forgotten that it was Shekhawat’s birthday today. We usually raise an extra laugh on every member’s birthday – but probably, it would have been inappropriate for Shekhawat as he is presently in mourning, attending the last rites of his brother-in-law (sister’s husband) in Rajasthan. Nevertheless, through this blog, we wish him a long, healthy and cheerful life as always.
Kiran Prakash:
* What is there in this group for people to keep coming back even when they are on a short visit to the city? Nafisa's visit this morning only speaks of the love, affection and trust she shares with the members. Big Laaf continues to surprise me. This is a new- found love for me. I pray it stays like this.
* I wish Hari-ji a very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day. Pray for his long, healthy and happy life.
Bihari Milwani:
Gupta-ji, your president is proceeding on leave. Seize the reins and issue an ordinance: The uniform for Housie (to be played on Saturday) would be half-pants, both for ladies and gents. There must be no discrimination on caste, creed or gender.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
* Big Laaf has a strong magnetic field. It attracts people sitting miles away. It is this magnetism that keeps everyone together. I wish the club and its members long life. Happy Birthday to Hari Shekhawat.
* Change is the spice of life. Be it Housie or the joining of an old member for a day or so, it revives memories which we all cherish.