Frozen at 21

Hari Singh Shekhawat

How time flies! For, it seems just the other day – soon after the Kashmir trip in September 2012 – that Hari Singh Shekhawat put forth the proposal for a Himachal Tour. Today, we are exactly five days away from boarding the Golden Temple Mail to Amritsar for the first leg of the tour (see post of March 11) beginning March 27. Effectively, the countdown has begun.
In these six months, much has happened – from revising and re-revising the itinerary, finalizing railway and hotel bookings, hiring helicopters to Vaishno Devi and so on. From an initial count of 14, the numbers in the group dropped to 11, then leaped to 19 and then two dropped out, followed by three joining in… till we are now left with a final figure of 21.
Today Shekhawat declared that he will henceforth not entertain any further cancellation or fresh bookings. “The number stands frozen at 21 as far as I am concerned,” he announced, clearly fed up of having to accommodate requests for changes every now and then.

Formal induction of Teja Singh

For, every last-minute request has involved countless phone calls, cash changing hands and reworking the financials for the tour. It has been a monumental task. And still, there are many who continue to dilly-dally over whether to stay back in Delhi or return with the rest of the group on April 5. “I doubt if Shekhawat has had a single night sleep in the last one month,” empathised Srichand Arora, whose involvement in tying up the logistics has been no less critical and demanding.
Meanwhile, we had a new addition to our Club membership with Teja Singh today paying Rs300 towards his admission fees. He is based in Faridabad but joins us for the exercises without fail every time he visits Mumbai. A peaceful soul, he has been an inalienable part of the Big Laaf family from the day he first stepped in our midst two years back. His induction, approved by voice vote, was a mere formality, long overdue.
Harish Wadhwa
Teja Singh-ji is a wonderful and kind-hearted soul. I think people above 75 should be given Honorary membership. By the way, his name is Teja Singh Bhambra. Welcome to the group and may be to the Badmaash Company some day!