Poster Girls

Everybody follows Mubaraka (c) as she conducts the laughter exercises, confidently  

Jamilla and Mubaraka in their elements

The child, they say, is the father of man. But what would you say of a grand-child -- or grand-children rather?
Little Mubaraka (ref post of August 29) chucked this conundrum at us when she held centre-stage to conduct the laughter exercises this morning. She was the boss, calling the shots and the 18 of us, including grand-pa Yusuf Rassiwala, simply followed her bidding.
But then, it was more to prove a point to her younger sister, Jamilla that Mubaraka took charge of our laughter round today. If anything, she had to establish that attending the exercises the day-before yesterday

File photo: Jamilla is on her mother's lap

was more than enough to rise above all and be the lady in command.
Jamilla was hardly impressed. She is known to be the naughtier one, a bundle of mischief, but surprisingly remained restrained in front of us. Left to herself, she’d be the last person to ever obey her sister. We caught a glimpse of this mischievous streak when Mubaraka requested Jamilla to fetch her a bottle of water as she felt thirsty. “Get it yourself,” she shot back.
And she did not find anything funny about it.
The first we saw of Jamilla was on her mother’s lap six years back (ref post of June 23, 2012). It was probably her first birthday. Yusuf R had brought her with the rest of his family to celebrate with us in the Garden. Today, it seems so long, long ago. Above is a group photo taken on that occasion. Mubaraka can be seen standing in red T-shirt, fidgeting around. How time flies!