Sweltering

Kiran Prakash holds fort today

As much of India reels under severe drought, we, in the Garden, are having our share of misery in the sweltering summer heat. Mercifully, there are kind souls like Mallika Kagzi and Swati Punjabi lugging in bottles of water every morning, quenching parched throats and saving us from certain dehydration.
But there are also many like Nahid Khan, Razia Khan, Nasir Putani Shah and others, who are more seriously affected and have reported sick, some with symptoms of viral fever. Kiran Prakash too has been suffering for the past three days and yet, took upon himself this morning to conduct the free-hand exercises -- all because none of the regular ‘teachers’ were present today.
This had never happened earlier. It was an emergency-like situation prompting Mallika to send out an SOS to Yusuf Rassiwala (an old ‘teacher’) to rush to the Garden and take charge of the exercises. He responded obediently, but was late by a few minutes – by which time Kiran Prakash was already there in the middle, merrily orchestrating the free-hand round in his own inimitable style.

Yusuf Rassiwala (l) and Dilip Babani

This was incidentally, after a spot of entertainment provided by Bijoy Kumar Gupta. He offered to help out upon observing that Kiran Prakash was unwell and that there was nobody else to hold fort. He stepped into the circle and like any rookie, politely appealed for everybody’s indulgence and to correct him should he make a mistake at any stage.
People usually get the sequence of exercises wrong, but Gupta, on the very first drill mixed it up with the second. Only he is capable of committing such a howler. And when it raised an uproar (with even Tara Chand insisting on shooing him away), Gupta kept a straight face. “What to do, I forget everything when I am in the centre!” he said.
In all this hilarity -- serving only to distract from the adverse weather conditions -- a strange fact came to light: Yusuf R habitually addresses Dilip Babani as “Dilip Kumar”. And Dilip calls Yusuf R as “Yusuf Bhai”. It is some coincidence that the real name of senior Bollywood star, Dilip Kumar is Yusuf Khan. “Two people same name,” was how Dilip explained this odd connection.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It is surprisingly too hot for the season throughout the country. We all are responsible for this. All the same, everyone must be careful and drink water or nimboo pani frequently to remain alert and healthy.
Kiran Prakash:
True, I was not well, but I enjoyed conducting the free-hand exercises. It made me feel closer to the group, perhaps with this little 'contribution' to the Club. In fact, I would love to conduct exercises once in a while. It feels good. It is like giving back a little to society.