Con Game

Mubaraka (in red cap) joins us for the exercises today

Mubaraka (r) with her gran'pa

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Children have been taught this dictum from an early age. But today, a child was to witness how grown-ups can let greed get the better of good sense and make a potential ullu of themselves.
The child in question was Yusuf Rassiwala’s grand-daughter, Mubaraka. In what appeared to be a modern version of Red Riding Hood, she came riding a bicycle into the Garden wearing a red cap. She took part in the exercises and rode back the way she came, leaving her grandpa behind.
Now, back to the ullu episode. Soon after the exercises, a middle-aged gent popped up and announced out of the blue that we were invited to the screening of a film, Zindagi Tumse. “It is about mother,” he informed while handing

Foxed! Everybody examines the movie cards given gratis

out some little white cards. “You are all welcome.”
He also named some cineplexes in the vicinity where the movie has supposedly been running since October 25.
Predictably, there was a mad scramble for those

Shekhawat wishes Vijay-bhai (r) well

little white cards that looked suspiciously like entry tickets to a theatre. Nahid Khan, Shekhawat, Razia Khan and a few others managed to wangle two of them. “Why don’t you take an extra ticket for your wife?” whispered Shekhawat to Yusuf R.
“But are these actually tickets for the movie?” somebody asked.
That was when the nickel dropped. It became amply clear that those little white cards were nothing but handbills meant to promote a (flop) film by luring people to theatres and leaving them with little option than to buy a ticket.
Funnily, we fell for the ruse. Realising this, everybody tore those cards to shreds. Had the man been honest about the motive behind distributing those worthless white cards, there would have been no hard feelings. Now, we felt cheated. But then, we should have known that there is no such thing as a free lunch in life.
On a more sobering note, Vijay Jakhia made an appearance in the Garden after nearly five months. His varicose vein problem has aggravated, leaving both his big toes twisted at a painfully awkward angle. Worse, he is relocating to Borivli. His son, a banker has retired from service and will have to vacate his staff quarters by November 30.
Vijay-bhai came today to bid us farewell. “I don’t know if we shall ever meet again,” he said. “With this feet, I don’t think I will be able to come all the way from Borivli. Age is also against me. But I shall be remembering you all for as long as I live.”
We shall also be missing him.

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
We Indians are famous for grabbing anything that is free -- be it edible or inedible, useful or unusable. In the end we may have to throw it away, but in the beginning we must store the free stuff. Mr Vijay Jakhia has been a regular visitor to the Garden in the morning. He is a jovial and good natured person who got along with everyone. We shall miss him very much. We wish him good health.