As jolly as they come

This relates to the era BP (before pandemic), when people used to meet face to face! Jadodhar Mattotar (name changed), at 77, is a young old man. Attired in brightly coloured T-shirts, and with hair dyed, he gets up at 5 am and sets off for a brisk 6-km walk. Fit as a fiddle, he is amiable and pleasant and has a face like that of the Laughing Buddha. He is colourful, not only in his attire but also in his wayward ways!

Living at a stone’s throw from my house, he often dropped in at my place many an evening (before the pandemic) without notice, but wouldn’t accept even a cup of tea despite my offer. He used to enquire after my health, which had been indifferent for quite some time then, and left when he knew it was time to leave, which I believe, he could divine from my facial expressions.

One day, I told him of another friend of mine who had similarities galore with him. He heard the narration with amusement.

Anil Prakash Bhatnagar (name not changed), now settled in Gurugram, had been a year senior to me in the IPS. Once, at a get-together, as he waved his hand to make a point, my eyes caught sight of his palm. A luck-line running deep and long from the mount of Luna to the mount of Saturn struck me. I immediately mentioned it to him saying tongue-in-cheek: ‘Bhatnagar saheb, you have a strong luck-line; your rise would be phenomenal, irrespective of your merits!’ He took the remark sportingly and rather corroborated me: ‘Yes, I had a third division in BSc, and yet I got selected for the IPS.’

Emboldened, I added: ‘You have three assets which are the key to your success and which make you what you are!’

‘What do you think I am?’ he asked me with a broad grin.

‘First, hugely popular with ladies,’ I flattered him. His eyes gleamed with excitement. ‘You also have the gift of the gab,’ I added. ‘And you are social and amiable.’

‘Are you serious?’ he asked me with an obvious glee.

‘You know I am,’ I replied.

‘What about the three assets?’ he wanted to hear about them too.

‘They are gol chehra, gora rang and mota chasma,’ I said with a twinkle in my eyes. He seemed mighty pleased.

‘The spectacles make you look intellectual,’ I said. ‘Why say they make me look? Am I not really intellectual?’ he countered smilingly, more in zest than in anger.

Avoiding any risk, I conceded the point. And the meeting ended on a pleasant note.

Sometimes, I wish, I too could be as jolly, social and cheerful as Jadodhar Mattotar and Anil Prakash Bhatnagar.