DAY 1993

Pic of the Week

TRUNCATED TRAIN!

Due to heavy rains, the Big Laaf train compartments are restricted to four! --Bihari Milwani

Superb Wit

All ears on Karuna Waghmare (c)

That in these times, it is still possible to retain one’s innocence and remain insulated from external influences was proved by Karuna Waghmare today. The following two ‘jokes’ narrated by her in the morning would adequately amplify this:
* An elephant befriended an ant. One day, the ant climbed up the elephant’s body and said that it had a confession to make. “Keep this to yourself,” the ant whispered in the elephant’s ear. “It’s a secret. I am going to be the mother of your child.”
* One day a coconut fell from a tree. A monkey, swinging about on the tree-top, gleefully descended upon the fallen coconut and tried to break it. Unable to do so, it straddled upon the coconut and started rocking up and down like it was on a rocking horse!
So what’s funny?
Anybody relating these ‘jokes’ would only draw a stony silence. But coming from Karuna, we were reduced to tears, laughing out hard and unable to take it any more. The podgy little lady has perfected a style of speaking in staccato half-sentences and she isn’t even aware how funny she can be -- especially when she waves her tiny hands around for effect.

File photo of Mr and Mrs Shekhawat

As Dilip Babani pointed out to her, “Anything you say is funny.”
While we shall be hearing more of Karuna Waghmare (now that she is back from her sojourn at her daughter’s), here’s a bit of disturbing news. Mrs Mohan Kanwar Shekhawat was admitted to Sanghvi Hospital, Lokhandwala yesterday with a severe bout of nausea and vomiting. She was discharged around 10:30 pm after some drips and injections. But for the time she was admitted, Shekhawat was badly rattled.

Happy Anniversary, Mr and Mrs Angad Singh

Kiran Prakash who called on him late evening reported that Mrs Shekhawat looked extremely weak and exhausted. The latest, according to Shekhawat, is that “the test reports indicate that she is out of danger and there’s nothing to worry now”.
Meanwhile, our in-house computing wizard, Bihari Milwani informs that Mr and Mrs Angad Singh have completed 65 glorious years of married life today. “They were married on June 17, 1951,” he reminds us, faultless as always in keeping track of every milestone in everybody's life. What statisticians are to cricketing records, Milwani is to us in Big Laaf.
As Angad Singh is away at Mohali, let us convey to him and his wife through this blog our heartfelt wishes for many more years of togetherness and marital bliss.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
We wish the Shekhawats a very enjoyable and long inning. Happy to know that Mrs Shekhawat is well and enjoying good health. We are also thankful to Milwani-ji for remembering our marriage anniversary. We will certainly celebrate when we return to the club.

Celebration Continues

Aryan and Kanta Sharma (foreground) with the food boxes

Kanta Sharma started off from where she left yesterday. The Vyanjan food boxes due for her birthday celebration (see yesterday’s post) arrived this morning, albeit a little late. It took her son, Aryan to physically abduct the delivery man from some place and produce him in the Garden before everybody had dispersed for the day.
Today’s do was however, not about finishing an unfinished business. With time on hand, it was an opportunity to know Aryan better and he too could let his hair down with us.

Mother and son, done and dusted

Swati Punjabi went to the extent of charging at him (in her usual style) for being addressed as 'grandmom'. “What else am I to say?” the young man retorted gamely. “If you can call my mom ‘auntie’, why mustn’t I call you ‘nani’?”
There were many such chatty exchanges and quick repartees, though of little consequence. After all, it does not matter what the substance of conversation is or the extent of liberty one takes with the other on such occasions. What matters is the kind of interaction we get to share with the families of our members – something we sorely lack.

Geeta Lathe's (l) succulent petha treat

Sadly, club birthdays have come to be a ritual of mechanically doling out goodies with a family junior in polite attendance, hardly opening up with anyone. Today, Aryan Sharma showed us that this need not be so and that a birthday celebration can be much more than just eats and treats. That he ‘compensated’ some with additional food boxes was however, another matter.
Meanwhile, Geeta Latte had another big surprise in store. Her mother has just come back from Jaipur and she brought along for us a box of golden yellow pethas – the soft, crunchy candy the city is famous for. This was one syrupy temptation that even an amputated diabetic like Arun Patil could not resist. The rest could easily be forgiven for over-indulgence.
Bihari Milwani:
Ramzaan or no Ramzaan, parties must go on. That is the motto of Big Laaf!
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It is only in the Big Laaf club that you can enjoy the celebration of one person's birthday on two consecutive days. Good indication and a new example that you can celebrate whenever you feel like. Happy Birthday, Mrs Sharma.

Passing Show?

WITH THE BIRTHDAY GIRL (R)

Monsoon finally landed in Mumbai today... or has it?
From early dawn, dark grey clouds hung over the Garden and by 6:30 a.m., when the sky opened up, it looked like we were now done with the punishing heat and humidity of the past several weeks. But the relief was only temporary. The showers did not last beyond half-hour and after that,

Happy Birthday, once again!

the sun began to play hide and seek with the clouds for the rest of the morning.
The upshot of this was that we had to shift location and like every year, revert to the China Hut for the exercises. The sudden rains had brought down the attendance considerably. Yet, the confined space turned claustrophobic and many quietly slipped out in the open while the exercises were on for a breath of fresh air.

Members felicitating Kanta Sharma

The fear of another downpour hung heavy.
In all this, the only bright occurrence of the morning was Kanta Sharma celebrating her birthday in the Garden for the first time. (She is one of our newer members.) Till yesterday, she was away in Delhi and quite clearly, had timed her return to be with us for this special occasion – what with delectable dry-fruit barfis from the capital, a humongous birthday cake (that just did not get over) and most importantly, there was her son, Aryan for company. She had ordered for snacks also, but for some reason, the boxes from Vyanjan got delayed and those have been saved for another day.
Without much fuss, mother and son made this an event that would stay in our memories for a long time. Sadly, the photographs taken on the occasion got accidentally deleted from the camera and in spite of all efforts through the day, the images could not be retrieved. What you see here are pictures clicked by Aryan Sharma.
Thank you Aryan, for being such a sound back-up.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
We wish Mrs Sharma good health and happiness in the coming years.

Brighter Side

Swati Punjabi

Bijoy Gupta

Ramzaan has already robbed us of the numbers for our exercises. And the weather isn’t making things easier. With no sign of monsoon yet, even Nahid Khan has become irregular these days. She had been the only Muslim lady in Ramzaan to show up religiously every morning at the Garden in spite of her roza. Now, she says, she too cannot take the summer heat for long.
But then, there is also a brighter side to all this drudgery. Bijoy Gupta hasn’t given up on needling Shekhawat, his latest gem being that he has placed a call with a bangarwallah “to pick up Shekhawat’s rusty old train as scrap”. And Shekhawat isn’t sparing Ram Shankar Shukla from his gurukul jibes while insisting that he take up a 1,000 sq feet property on rent at Nalla Sopara for a new tutorial class.
There is also Arun Patil who conducts the exercises (in the absence of Nahid Khan) and never tires of reprimanding the ladies who have formed a “talking zone” among themselves.

Kiran Prakash distributes Karachi Bakery biscuits

And adding spice to the proceedings, there is Santosh Tyagi ready to regale everybody with a round of fresh jokes.
Amid all this, Swati Punjabi today treated us to sabu-dana khichdi – something she had been promising us for long. She is one lady who does not require a reason to lavish her culinary bounties, so proud is she of her cooking skills. And indeed, even boiled potato can taste heavenly once it is out of her kitchen.
If the sabu dana khichdi were not enough, there was Kiran Prakash just back from Hyderabad with a box of tooti-fruity biscuits from the city’s famous Karachi Bakery. He arrived early morning after a tiresome train journey, but could not resist the temptation of checking us out in the Garden – such is the magnetic pull of Big Laaf!
Dilip Babani:
KIRAN PRAKASH-JI, THOSE WERE VERY NICE AND FRESH KARACHI FRUIT BISCUITS. AND SWATI-JI, YOUR SABOO DANA KICHDI WAS ALSO VERY NICE.
Lt Col Angaad Singh (from Mohali):
Ramzaan has begun. The strength of Muslim ladies has decreased. Still you can enjoy the 'woman power' in the club. The men appear to be in a minority. It is worth the effort to be part of the morning exercises and also relish the cookies. Relax, exercise and keep enjoying.