‘Happy Family’

Karun Sharma is made to stand on a bench for coming late. He survived!

Amazing what one man's absence can do to the Club. Silence descends. Everybody remains focused on the exercises. No distractions. No tomfoolery. No side talk. No wastage of time. The exercises are conducted with clockwork precision. “A small family is a happy family,” observed Nahid Khan.
Indeed, Shekhawat’s absence (see yesterday’s post) created a sense of emptiness all morning.
But there was also concern about whether the “prankish patriarch” (as some called Shekhawat) had reached his destination by train. “Who said he was going by train?” Bijoy Gupta butted in. “Had he gone by train, he would have reached by now. To the best of my knowledge, he has gone by a truck in order to save money.”
Gupta spun a crazy yarn about Shekhawat being such a miser that he had tied up with a Rajasthani supplier of medicines from his village and was hitching a free ride in his truck.

Shafiqa (r), Razia Khan's daughter, treats
us to chocolate bars 

Banoo Apa (l) treats us to chilled
home-made lassi

“Mark my words, he won’t reach before two days. The truck has to drop boxes at medical shops along the way. If Shekhawat is lucky, he will reach his village only on Saturday, not before.”
Gupta’s spur-of-the-moment humour was matched by Razia Khan who took upon herself to discipline habitual late-comers of the Club. She announced that 15 minutes grace will be allowed to all and those reporting afterwards shall have to stand on a bench (the way they punish errant school kids) holding their ears.
All very fine, just that there is a huge risk factor involved. Many benches in the Garden are as ancient as us, if not older. Standing on them could lead to their breakage or the breaking of bones – or both. Regardless of whichever occurs first, we wouldn’t know what to do thereafter.