Open Door Policy

"Am I a bathroom inspector?"

Have we bitten off more than we can chew?
This is the question being asked ever since Shekhawat threw open the doors of the Club, inviting all and sundry to join us on the Kerala trip. That the offer was at a throwaway price (on actuals) resulted in an unprecedented rush from friends, families, even strangers (and their uncles), such that today, Shekhawat is saddled with a contingent of 44 – and still counting!
When Jagmohan Papneja heard this number, he jumped, wondering aloud if so many people even visit the Garden.

Arora pays his share

Others like Yusuf Rassiwala, Monthi Serrao and Harbans Kaur kept warning Shekhawat that such a big group would be totally unmanageable – more so, when they were all seniors and not in the best of health. “If someone goes to the toilet, the rest of us will be stranded,” Harbans Kaur surmised. “As it always happens, when one goes, everybody else would follow and then we are done for the day. Where would there be any time for sightseeing?”
As is his wont, Shekhawat dismissed such talk and transferred the responsibility to the tour operator in Kerala.

Luddoos to soothe tempers

He argued that right from paying off coolies at Ernakulam station to herding everyone together, seating them in buses, allotting rooms in the hotel, etc. everything would be handled by the operator's staff. “It is their headache,” he declared. “Why do you worry? We shall all enjoy!”
But Arora was not convinced. He was dead certain that Shekhawat’s cavalier open door policy would land everybody in a royal sambaar and threatened to withdraw from the troupe. But when he was told that organising the tour was more like ‘social work’, he came around. After all, if it were not for this initiative by the Club, many would die without ever seeing Kerala! This would be their first and last chance to visit God's own country – and that too, at dirt cheap rates. So this morning, Arora too paid up for the tour.
For all his more-the-merrier attitude, Shekhawat did not however, bargain for some strange questions from members: “Why should I be traveling with strangers?” “Are toilets in the hotels fitted with WC or Indian-style?” “Will we get chappatis in Kerala?” “Will so-and-so be sharing my room?” Today, when a lady asked whether her bathroom in the hotel would be clean, Shekhawat blew his top. He screamed his lungs out and announced that come what may, everybody was free to take their money back, but he will definitely not, repeat NOT go inspecting bathrooms in Kerala.
Ultimately, tempers cooled down with a round of luddoos from Bhaswati Bose – and some sanity was restored for the day.