10 Days of ‘Freedom’

Ringa Ringa Roses...

Shekhawat, Srichand Arora, Nahid Khan and all other movers and shakers of the Club have left on the 10-day tour of Himachal Pradesh – moving and shaking in a train even as you read this. Tomorrow morning that train will deposit them at Amritsar. The following day, they will hit the highway for a 12-hour drive towards Vaishno Devi.
Their absence from the Garden was strongly felt this morning. Regulars on the walking track stopped by before the exercises to inquire whether there would be ‘any laughing’ today. Indeed, the turnout was abysmal (partly also because of the Holi hangover from yesterday) and the place wore a deserted look.

Sitaram Hivarkar

But as people trickled in, a strange phenomenon emerged: Barring two, none of the members had their caps on. Clearly, the Arora-phobia had evaporated. Monthi Serrao was the first to notice this. “Yehhhh!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “Ten days of azadi from caps!!!”
Arora was amused upon hearing this. “I knew nobody would wear the caps,” he said from the train as it neared Ratlam Junction. He remarked that it was raining in those parts and that “the group was having a swell time in the train”. Shekhawat was already talking of a Kerala tour later this year, Arora informed.
At the Garden, the outstation tours became a sore point with some members. “Not everyone can afford it,” Sitaram Hivarkar opined. “I live on my pension. I cannot ask my sons to take money out of their domestic budget to finance my pleasure trips. Why don’t we simply stick to one-day picnics as we were doing earlier?”
While Tara Chand pointed out that there was no compulsion to join one picnic or the other, Pratap Bhatt took up for Sitaram, arguing that the trips to Goa, Kashmir and now, Himachal were alienating members who cannot afford them. “We should stop this practice,” he urged Sitaram. The debate continues.
Harish Wadhwa:
Time for new leaders to emerge and take centre-stage. Now that the Big Cats are away, it is time for others to enjoy life more than normal. Freedom is the word. So guys have fun!