A Miracle

Shekhawat explains the reason for his hospitalisation

He’s back in the Garden!
Within 24 hours of being admitted to the naval hospital in an acute state of breathlessness (ref yesterday’s post), Shekhawat was discharged and after a restful night’s sleep, was all over the place this morning.
Everybody was taken aback. “This is magic!” Zarina Khan exclaimed, wiping her eyes in disbelief. “What is he doing here?”
“If I were in your place, I’d be flat on the bed, taking rest at home,” Yusuf Rassiwala advised Shekhawat. “I’d not show my face in the Garden for the next eight days at least.”
Call it plain grit, will-power or the magnetic pull of the Club, Shekhawat can be expected to do the unexpected. But this time, he had an explanation. “The oxygen in my blood got over,” he said, summoning everyone around him after the exercises. “I had forgotten to use my mouth pump. I am

Meeting in progress in the China Hut

supposed to use it twice a day, but was using it maybe once whenever I remembered. The doctors put an oxygen mask on me in hospital and my condition stabilised overnight. Then they let me go.”
Shekhawat is a heart patient, having undergone a bypass surgery a few years back. At age 79, he cannot afford to run out of breath and put undue pressure on his heart. He was advised to carry an inhaler at all times, especially when he is in the Garden, just in case.
Meanwhile, preparations have begun for the Prize Distribution Ceremony slated next Thursday. A meeting was called in the China Hut after the exercises and a rough action plan drawn out. Duties were allotted to all – right from putting up the stage and advance publicity to felicitating the chief guest, programming, refreshments, etc. All members were asked to inform their friends and family members about the event.