  We present MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) observations of the HI gas
in the Klemola31 galaxy group ($z=0.029$), located along the line of sight to
the radio-loud quasar PKS2020-370 ($z=1.048$). Four galaxies of the group are
detected in HI emission, and HI absorption is also detected in front of
PKS2020-370 in Klemola31A. The emission and absorption are somewhat
compensating on the line of sight of the quasar, and the derived column density
of the absorption appears under-estimated, with respect to the neighbouring
emission. A symmetric tilted-ring model of Klemola31A, assuming the absorbing
gas in regular rotation in the plane, yields a rather high spin temperature of
530K. An alternative interpretation is that the absorbing gas is extra-planar,
which will also account for its non-circular motion. The NaI/CaII ratio also
suggests that the absorbing gas is unrelated to cold HI disk. Two of the
galaxies in the Klemola group are interacting with a small companion, and
reveal typical tidal tails, and velocity perturbations. Only one of the
galaxies, ESO400-13, reveals a strong HI deficiency, and a characteristic
ram-pressure stripping, with a total asymmetry in the distribution of its gas.
Since a small galaxy group as Klemola31 is not expected to host a dense
intra-group gas, this galaxy must be crossing the group at a very high
velocity, mostly in the sky plane.
