Cricketing Glory

Qadir Bano (centre, in green) plays the gracious hostess, celebrating her son's achievement on the cricket field 

Mohammad Aarif Khan with the trophy

The other day, we rejoiced over the gold medal-win of an upcoming sprint queen – Banoo Apa’s cute, little grand-daughter, Enaya (ref post of December 8).

The family: Salma (r) serves Nahid Khan while Rehan and
Qadir Bano watch in the background

Today, we celebrated the victory of another sporting champion, Qadir Bano’s son.
Mohammad Aarif Khan is a cricketer. As captain of INSPIRE, he led his team to a resounding victory in the limited overs' ICPL

Urmila Sinha (l) serves gaajar halwa

(Inter Chapter Premier League) cricket tournament in Mumbai to lift the trophy on December 12.
Aarif did not join us in the Garden this morning. His son, Rehan was there to represent him and what we gathered was that the 39-year-old has always been an avid cricketer and a fitness fiend at that. “My dad keeps wickets,” the little boy informed with obvious pride.
Rehan was accompanied by his mother, Salma and together with Qadir Bano, they laid out a grand spread of lip-smacking boiled chana masala, stuffed roti roll, upma and a giant mawa sweet – followed by typical Rajasthani chai. It was a feast fit for kings.
The hosts did not stop there. After serving us all, they invited others from the Garden, including members of the group with whom Qadir Bano does her daily yoga exercises.
And still there was more. Many took the stuff home in plastic packets, to be relished at leisure.
Earlier in the morning, Urmila Sinha dished out gaajar halwa she had been promising for long. Like several other members, she too is making a habit of sharing with us the delicacies she stirs up in her kitchen from time to time.