The ZUMBA QUEENS 👑💃 WhatsApp group was, by the third week, an ecosystem of its own.
Nirmala had been added to it by Rekha on Day Two, along with a personal message that said: Welcome to the group, don't feel pressured to respond to everything, but do mute it at night or you will go mad. This was the most useful advice Rekha had ever given her.
The group operated on several frequencies simultaneously. There was the practical channel — class schedule, cancellations, the announcement that Monday's class was shifted to 7:15 because Freddy had a dental appointment. There was the appreciation channel, which was predominantly heart emojis and photographs of Freddy taken covertly during class by Mrs. Apte's phone, which Mrs. Apte did not realise had an extremely loud shutter sound. There was the life-advice channel, where one conversation about protein intake for joint health had evolved over three days into a discussion of hormone replacement therapy, retirement planning, and whether learning a new language at sixty was realistic or aspirational.
And then there was the Vikram Mehta channel, which had started when Pushpa aunty had posted: Ladies notice Vikram bhai is improving SO much. His salsa step yesterday excellent no?
