DAY 2044

Pic of the Week

CHAAR ANNA-AATH ANNA, BARAH ANNA, EK RUPIYA... PAANCH RUPIYA!

No, it is worth duss rupiya! -- Lt Col Angad Singh

6 Days to Go…

Kerala Gang: Dhruv (foreground) also wants to join them

There’s less than a week to go before the Kerala trip takes off. Next Friday, at this time, in all likelihood a small group of 16 from Big Laaf would be painting the Munnar township red, having cooled their heels at Kochi the previous night.
Broadly, the itinerary for the six-day tour is as follows:
* October 13: Kochi town
* October 14 and 15: Munnar (hill station)
* October 16: Thekkady (wild life sanctuary)
* October 17: Alleppey (in house boat)
* October 18: Departure for Mumbai from Kochi Airport
Significantly, this is the same tour programme a 40-member group from the Club had adopted the last time around, on February 2014.
Yet, there are some like Nahid Khan and Lakshmi Hadimani who have re-booked for this trip also. Put it to plain economics or the composition of the group, the general response for joining in has been overwhelming.

Why is 'Yusuf Uncle' at the receiving end?

In fact, such has been the clamor for going to Kerala this time that for once, a waiting list had to be maintained in the event of last-minute dropouts. Only Rukhsana Khan and her daughter Afreen could be accommodated, following Kanta Sharma’s son, Aryan and Nahid Siddiqui opting out.
Chanda Khadaria’s son, Dhruv is also keen to join the group in spite of a sudden spike in the air fare at this late stage. His mother is however, not as keen because she would be unable to accompany him.
Still, she relented upon seeing how “attached” her boy has become to some of our members. And the feeling is mutual. Moreover, he has not been to Kerala earlier.
So mother-and-son showed up this morning at the Garden in a last ditch effort for Dhruv to be accommodated. Much as everyone would have loved to have him along, somehow it did not work out.
Besides, as we were to learn later, the “permission” from home had been withdrawn for some unforeseen reason.
Now, that’s a pity.
For Dhruv is such a wonderful, well-behaved boy – a darling to all of us. He shall be missed during the trip.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
Kerala, or God's Own Country as it is known, holds a special attraction for everyone. It is worth seeing again and again. Those who can make it, are the chosen ones. Be proud, relax and enjoy.

Rain Pain

The rain-soaked Garden today morning

The rain gods must be crazy. They should have been done with the monsoon in Mumbai by now. Yet it continues to rain camels and elephants, especially in the mornings when we assemble for our exercises. If news reports are to be believed, the weather shall remain wet till Sunday.
Going by convention, this is proving to be the third monsoon in one year. Twice we have moved out of the China Hut in the past month, only to rush back for shelter because the skies had opened up. We are still boxed in, out of fear of getting drenched needlessly.
Every other year, the Ganapati festivities have marked the end of the monsoon in Mumbai. This year everything went as expected and the sun had also come out… till Anant Chaturdashi, the day of immersion of Ganesh idols. The rains struck back with a vengeance. It poured and it poured and suddenly it was sunny again. After another dry spell lasting a week, the rains returned at the beginning of this month and since then, have refused to leave.
The reason the weather is being seen as a big deal is not because our exercises are only affected. We are in the midst of the festival season. Navaratri has already started. In a couple of days, the four-day Durga Puja celebrations would begin. Then comes Dussehra… and so on. For many of us, any further delay in the monsoon exiting would be disastrous.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
Always look at the brighter side of things. Monsoon provides us the natural green carpet in the garden. It is a scene to be enjoyed and felt. Everything is green. Nature provides you all this free of cost. Where do you find so much greenery in Mumbai? Be thankful to the Almighty and enjoy His blessings.

Versova Picnic

Ho-Ho Ha-Ha by the beach

Dilip Babani was damn right before taking us to Versova Beach for an early morning picnic today: “Once we reach there, you will forget all other beaches!”
Indeed, the moment we reached there at 7:30 in the morning, we forgot all other beaches. To our intense horror, confronting us along the coastline was a row of exposed bums of different shapes and sizes, defecating merrily in the open. None of us could summon the courage to take another step forward.
Even more awkward was the bewildered look among bystanders who had gathered around. "You people have travelled all the way from Lokhandwala to witness this?" they seemed to ask.
The trip should ideally have been called off because of inclement weather (see yesterday’s post), but it was at Mallika Kagzi’s insistence that we set out from the Garden on schedule. The idea was to do our

Soaking in the sand and surf

exercises by the seafront – as we had done at Juhu Beach two years ago (ref post of September 20, 2014) – and thereafter rejoice over tea and snacks.

Back from a walk

Whoever expected a spectacle of erupting bums by the beach?
But all was not lost. We were headed homeward before a helpful local directed us to a more “hospitable stretch on the beach where people do jogging” located about 15 minutes away by the main road. Sure enough, tucked away amid a maze of high rises, was another gateway to Versova Beach – relatively clean, serene and well-maintained. Mercifully, there was no bum show here.
In all this, we were already behind time for the exercises. Being a working day, many were in a hurry to return home before 9:00a.m.

Fooling around... as always

Still, we managed to go through some basic laughter exercises before the ladies came up with some innovative games like Chaar Annah-Aath Annah on the run. Mallika, Zarina Khan, Mumtaz Jahan and Nahid Khan practiced a walking race between themselves while Rukhsana Khan and a few others went for a long walk down the beach. Somebody even suggested that we compete with a frisky dog nearby playing fetch-ball with its owner.
Meanwhile, Dilip and Kiran Prakash took off to organize the eats. And over a sumptuous spread of bhujiya, vada pao, samosa, pakodas, cupcake, biscuits and chocolate bars – washed down with hot, flavoured tea prepared by Mallika from home – we had a blast. The weather was also kind to us for the time we were there. Everybody got so caught up by the madness of the moment that we did not realize that we had overshot our deadline by more than an hour.

Time for Mallika's tea

Surveying the beach

Ever helpful Dilip Babani

Like all good things, this too had to end. Apart from Mallika, Banoo Apa and Kiran Prakash who are known for their cooperative and caring nature, Dilip Babani deserves a special word of thanks for eventually making this picnic a success. Were it not for him, things would have fallen flat – even before that spectacular show of exploding backsides by the beach.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
At times it feels good to be surprised. Nobody thought of seeing the bums on the beach. Everyone thought that area was free of faeces. But then, they were proved wrong. Some picnics are remembered because of odd things seen. So this is how we shall remember Versova Beach. Good eats and a happy ending!

‘Gulf Returned’

Kiran Prakash returns

In the old days, there used to be a rare breed of Indian travellers called ‘England Returned’. Over time, that got broad-based to ‘Phoren Returned’. Thereafter, we got into the era of ‘Gulf Returned’ -- a distinction meant for those who had traveled to the Middle East, the land of liquid gold, and returned. Today, you do not even have to go beyond the Gold Souk of Dubai and can still qualify as a 'Gulf Returned’ – or ‘Gulfie’ if you will.
This time around, Kiran Prakash had gone to Abu Dhabi also, but what seemed to matter most to members of the Club was his visit to Dubai and the amount of gold he had picked up along the way (as though scraps of the yellow metal were lying littered on the streets).

Gold-wrapped chocolates for everyone

So today, when he walked into the Garden, many saw him as a new-age Santa Claus, loaded with glittering gifts and promise.
From Bhaswati Bose to Kajal Babani, Geeta Latte and Karuna Waghmare, everybody had pestered him for 24-carat gold ornaments (nothing less) before he had left. And over WhatsApp, they all kept pushing their luck for assorted earrings, nose studs, finger-rings, chains… Some specified the weight – preferably over 10 grams.
Even Yusuf Rassiwala joined the fray after having visions of becoming a Bappi Lahiri and made a fervent request to “spare” some gold for him also. “A gold watch will do,” he conceded at one stage.

Banoo Apa (in red) hosts tea party

A WhatsApp message from Dubai saying that the gold was “not of good quality” was to only bring Kiran Prakash an avalanche of missives from Mumbai suggesting, in short, “Even bad quality gold will do, so long as you get us some on your way back.” There was no mention of payment though.
In all this, only Banoo Apa had the presence of mind to greet Kiran Prakash on his return and celebrate over a round of hot tea and biscuits. This was also her way of welcoming him as the new secretary of the Club – a post she had vacated last Friday at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). In that sense, her treat was a double celebration for all.
Post Script: Tomorrow's picnic hangs on the balance as rains have struck once again. It has been pouring continuously since last night and with no signs of a let up, chances are we would have to call off the picnic. This morning Mallika Kagzi gave us the option to defer the outing by a day, weather permitting. Even so, the very real possibility of having to wade through swirling slush and muck on the beach does not sound like a good idea at all.