Friday the 13th

WISHFUL THINKING: Boys will be boys!

Bizarre morning. Our tickets aren’t booked, the itinerary isn’t decided… even the dates haven’t been fixed for the Bangkok-Pattaya tour and yet, castles are being built in the air. An elderly gent wanted to know what usually happens in massage parlours. Another instantly demanded that a ‘rate list’ be made available on the various types of Thai massages on offer. Yet another requested that the hotels we are lodged in should be located close to massage parlours so that it would involve less walking/ commuting. A related request was to check if the hotels have in-house massage facilities.
Shekhawat surprisingly turned out to be a walking-talking encyclopedia on these matters and warned the men not to do anything foolish to prove their 'machismo'. Drawing upon experience from his Navy days, he advised them not to venture into ‘a house of sin’ all alone and enacted how to rush into the parlour in a group when nobody was looking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Harish

And then there were cock and bull stories of techniques and positions and costs involved, etc. by some who claimed to have seen it, done it. Soon we realized those accounts were nothing but wishful thinking and that let alone visit a parlour, NOBODY, not even the biggest bragger among us had the moral courage to handle a massage girl, even if one of them were to walk right up and plonk herself on his lap.
But there were serious concerns as well. What happens in the event of a medical emergency? Would insurance take care of missing baggage as well? How would we apply for visa here? Would special requests like non-smoking rooms and vegetarian meals be taken care of? How to handle a police situation? Who is responsible if someone goes missing? To address these queries, Shekhawat announced that the tour operator for this trip will be briefing us tomorrow in the Garden at 8:00 a.m. and everybody is free to obtain any clarification from him directly.
Today was Harish Wadhwa’s birthday also. He was present during the exercises, but did not distribute any sweets. Still, we raised an extra laugh and did our song-and-dance number wishing him the best on this special day – Friday, the Thirteenth. Could be this was the real reason why he chose to celebrate yesterday!
Harish Wadhwa:
This badmaash was born on Friday the 13th. No wonder I am an active member of that group. Thanks once again, my brethren, for that extra laugh and the blessings.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Pattaya is a great destination for families and kids because of all the fun things to see and DO.
Srichand Arora:
Harish-ji, we from Singapore wish you a very happy birthday. Sorry for this belated wish. I was more occupied with Ganesh-ji. MAY LORD GANESH GIVE YOU A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY LIFE AHEAD.