‘President’s Rule’

Bijoy Gupta threatens to impose President's Rule

Somehow, Bijoy Gupta is under the impression that he would be elected president of the Club, effective April 1. It could well be an April Fool joke, but no, Gupta is serious. For quite some time, he has been going around telling everybody that once he gets voted to power, he will impose ‘President’s Rule’ in the Club.
“People have been taking things easy for far too long,” he said today. “There should be strict discipline in the club. Nobody is serious about the exercises. I will ensure that people are not only regular but punctual as well. This will improve the image of our club. And Shekhawat, you better start behaving yourself. I will not tolerate your harkatein…”
Shekhawat’s prompt response was to thrust his thumb at Gupta. “Thinga!” he said and chuckling to himself, walked away.
Trouble was brewing from the time Zarina Khan brought along a young lady, her neighbour, to exercise with us. She turned out a quick learner and we were all impressed.

Shekhawat shows his thumb at Gupta 

Shekhawat chats up the new lady

No sooner the exercises ended than Shekhawat stepped up to welcome her formally with two white flowers and introduced himself as chairman of the club. He was surprisingly, at his best behaviour.
Gupta watched from a distance, amused. One by one, Shekhawat went on to introduce every member by name to the lady and also explained the rules of the Club, timings, membership fees, etc. Yusuf Rassiwala added it was entirely up to her whether she would like to join and that there were no restrictions should she otherwise feel like dropping by to exercise with us off and on. She had one month to take a call.
So long as the lady was around, Gupta did not utter a word. The moment she left, he started taking his digs at Shekhawat. Quite likely, he had felt side-lined. Or maybe, he was just looking for an excuse to go pull up his friend. That was when he reminded Shekhawat of an impending President’s Rule!