Advance Treat

Monthi Serrao celebrates with cakes and matthi

In deference to Srichand Arora’s wishes, Monthi Serrao advanced her birthday celebration by a couple of days this morning. In any case, her birthday (September 8) falls on Sunday, an undeclared holiday for us and she had the option of celebrating either on Saturday (i.e. tomorrow) or on Monday (i.e. September 9). But when Arora complained like a little brat that he would be leaving for Singapore tomorrow and nobody was giving him a treat, Monthi decided that he should not be deprived.
In the bargain, we all got to feast on an assortment of cakes (including the eggless variety) and pastries and matthi this morning – even as nobody wished her.

Srichand Arora leaves for Singapore

Monthi insisted that the wishes and ceremony could come on Monday, by which time she should have been born. As of now, we were to believe that she was two days away from her birth! Still, for all the goodies she so generously fed us, the blog records the gratitude of all members and wishes her the very best on her birthday in advance.
Meanwhile, Shekhawat got cracking on his long-promised Bangkok-Pattaya tour and asked all those interested in going to be ready with their passports at the earliest. He said he would like to schedule the trip in two months (around November-December) when off-season discounts would be available on flight tickets and hotel bookings.
While some like Khatoon Baig extracted a promise that he would not back out this time, others like Monthi and Geeta Sardana urged him to shift his sights to some other foreign destination as they had already visited Thailand earlier. Most others were non-committal and chose to wait and watch.
Shekhawat also announced that a fairly decent amount had been collected from membership subscriptions and it was now time to take a collective call on what to do with the money. The general consensus was to invest the money in a fixed deposit account (which would fetch a higher rate of interest in the bank) for use on a rainy day in future.
Jagmohan Papneja:
People with good intentions use words to express themselves. People, who actually care, use their action instead. This is what Mrs Monthi Serrao proved by celebrating her birthday in advance. She definitely deserves the best and happiest birthday wishes in advance.
Srichand Arora:
Monthi-ji, we both wish you a very happy birthday. And thanks a lot for the advance treat. God bless you!