Bad for Health?

Bijoy Gupta (right) blames Shekhawat

If yesterday belonged to Swati Panjabi, today it was Bijoy Gupta’s day. He cropped up in the Garden after a fortnight and straightaway blamed Shekhawat for his absence. “So long as he was away in Rajasthan, I was coming for the exercises every day,” he said. “The day he returned, I fell ill!”
The way he made this statement, straightfaced and with total conviction, took Shekhawat off-guard and he too burst out laughing. But Gupta remained dead serious. He firmly believes that Shekhawat is an ardent follower of the discredited godman Asaram Bapu (earlier, it used to be Radhe Ma) and has mastered black magic tricks that no one else knows. “Don’t you anybody follow him,” Gupta warned. “He will lead you straight to jail.”
Today he took another dig at Shekhawat, poking fun for his inability to retain any of his four so-called saalis. “They have all abandoned you,” he teased, clapping gleefully.

Discussions over a Rajasthan tour

When Shekhawat insisted that nobody has left him and went on to name the ladies one by one, Gupta retorted, “But they are your sisters… Where are the saalis?” Shekhawat had no answer.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot for the next Club excursion, possibly in February, to Rajasthan. Yusuf Rassiwala took up the subject with Shekhawat, suggesting that like the recent Kerala trip, we should stick to a small, compact group of no more than 15 or 20 like-minded people. “Otherwise, it would be hard to manage,” he explained. “Let us also restrict ourselves to just two places within a span of five or six days, so that we are not rushed from place to place without rest.”
Bhaswati Bose suggested timing the trip with the Jaisalmer Golden Desert Festival (February 8 to 10, 2017) while also taking in Jodhpur, the nearest major railhead connecting Mumbai. The train travel idea found instant appeal with many confirming their participation on the spot. However, a final call would be taken once details of logistics, budget, hotel stay, etc. are worked out.
Bihari Milwani:
Now we will need Chimpanzee (Big Monkey) to settle the dispute of Two Tigers (Big Cats).