Nicknames

Santosh Tyagi (c) narrates a joke today

Razia Khan reports to the Garden after a month

A nickname is not always complimentary. But it is the surest indication of a relationship moving to a level of informality. It strips you of the trappings of reserve and correctness and instills a sense of easy bonhomie, belonging, acceptance and most importantly, love.
So when Nahid Khan today addressed Santosh Tyagi as “Simran” during the exercises, a quick smile darted across many lips. The appellation – drawn from the heroine’s name in a yesteryear blockbuster Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge – was suggestive of a woman realizing her personal freedom by breaking the shackles of domesticity.
From a private joke (circulating among ladies) the nickname has found currency over time and to Santosh especially, it is an expression of love from all Club members. Significantly, Nahid herself boasts of a peculiar male epithet, “Bhai” after the gold-plated tooth she flashes while smiling. The talk is that the “false tooth” is a ruse for smuggling the precious metal like an underworld don!
Such wild allusions apply to several others the Club has learnt to take liberties with. Most of the nicknames are however quite innocuous and used selectively – often out of convenience and/ or on a one-to-one basis:
Shekhawat: “Shekhu Darling”
Bijoy Gupta: “Gudhri ka Lal”
Fehmida Khan: “Femmi”
Bhaswati Bose: “Bhashu”
Arun Patil: “Tokam Toki”
Bihari Milwani: “Bankey Bihari”
There are many more, but those are being deliberately left out since they don’t sound complimentary. (After all, this blog is also read by members' families.) You get the drift anyway.
Meanwhile, here’s some good news. Shekhawat went yesterday for a follow-up on the medical procedure performed on his chest last month (ref post of September 18). The doctors at the naval hospital in Colaba removed the sutures and have given him the green signal to travel to his village in Rajasthan for Dussehra. He leaves by train, tomorrow evening.