Out of the Shell

Gupta and Shekhawat in a playful scuffle

Bijoy Gupta is slowly, but surely getting out of his shell and is back to playing the fool with old buddy Shekhawat. He had dropped by to pay the annual subscription for his club membership and deliberately did not proffer the exact change. He waved a Rs2,000 note instead and demanded that he be provided the exact balance.
Shekhawat would have nothing of it and refused to accept the note until Gupta opened his wallet to him for inspection.

Only four ladies attended the exercises today

Only after being convinced that the latter really did not have the requisite change would he accept the Rs2,000 bill. During the scuffle that followed, Shekhawat managed to prise open Gupta’s wallet and satisfy himself about its contents.
Silly as this may all seem, it went a long way in thawing the frosty silence

"Will you tell me the injection to live 100 years?"

and awkwardness that had set in between the two following the death of Gupta’s daughter last month. In deference to his friend’s sentiments, Shekhawat too had been unusually restrained and did not take liberties with Gupta – least of all, address him by his pet moniker, “Gudhri ka Laal”.
Today, it became eminently clear that Gupta was making a conscious effort to leave his personal tragedy behind and move on. He started out by chiding Shekhawat that the ‘rail gaadi’ led by him after the exercises was a disgrace and he better stop it. “You have no idea how we used to make fun of your train when you were away in Rajasthan,” he teased Shekhawat.
Before long, Gupta got another opportunity. He heard that Shekhawat was to undergo some more tests on the advice of doctors (ref post of April 4) and promptly buttonholed him: “Tell me the truth, why are you seeing so many doctors? Is it because you want to live for 100 years? Are they giving you some injection? I also want to live beyond 100… Will you give me the name of the injection?”
Shekhawat had no reply.