Showdown

Kiran Prakash (r) takes up for Razia Khan (in yellow)

Arun Patil had another run-in with his favorite bête noire, Razia Khan. And for the first time in Big Laaf history, it took two ‘teachers’ to wrap up the free-hand exercises.
Trouble started the moment Razia stepped in the middle with Arun reminding her that she better conduct the exercises “properly” today. Instead of retaliating, Razia retraced her steps, leaving the field open to Arun.
Arun refused the invitation, but continued to needle her while she conducted the exercises. Now Razia is no greenhorn at this and in her 10-odd years as ‘teacher’, Arun has been a constant

Arun Patil (l) makes up with Razia

irritant – not without a touch of humour.
But matters reached a head today when Arun pointed out that she is incapable of even keeping count, thereby triggering an instant showdown. Razia lost

Banoo Apa stirs up the magic potion

her cool and walked away in a huff, telling Arun that he take charge from there on.
In all this, what has become clear is Arun’s increasing intolerance toward any slip-up during the exercises. Given his background in the NCC and with some training in yoga asanas, he knows a thing or two about exercising and expects everyone to fall in line with him.
So far so good. But as Kiran Prakash was to point out, Arun is himself not perfect. He too makes mistakes. In the discussion that followed after the exercises (meant primarily to assuage Razia’s feelings) it was explained that with advancing age, we are all prone to major gaffes due to physical limitations and there was no need of making an issue of them. On a reconciliatory note, Siba Prasad Maitra proposed that Arun be designated ‘Permanent Teacher’ of the Club.
Ultimately, it took Banoo Apa to cool down tempers. She introduced us to iced ‘Muharram ka sharbat’ – an unusually refreshing milky drink laced with blanched almonds, cardamom and the works. She informed that no artificial sweetener or essence had been used.
Banoo Apa need hardly have explained. For most of us who had never tasted anything of this sort, the sharbat was nothing short of a gift of the gods.

Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Ours is a happy-go-lucky group. All of us join the exercises for fun and some lively talk. Too much of everything is not good. Let us not rub anybody the wrong way. Otherwise it may hurt too much. Let us relax and enjoy the morning. Keep laughing instead of becoming too critical.