Post Picnic Blues

Exchanging notes on the Lonavala trip

As expected, the morning was taken up discussing the Lonavala Picnic.
As expected, all those who were on that bus last Saturday said they “enjoyed” the trip.
And as expected, most of them swore never again to go on another picnic!
This is the routine repeated every time. They come back jubilantly from a picnic to announce that everything went hunky dory and then someone lets the cat out of the bag. Soon many more cats jump out of the bag as everyone gets together to share their sob story and a decision is eventually taken never again to lend themselves to the “miserable experience”. But that’s for the moment…
The villain of the piece this time around was the bus. It was a BIG bus (a 40-seater) – bigger than what Shekhawat had requisitioned for a group of 25 – and a majority got the prized window seats. All were happy, more so because the intermittent showers and dense week-end traffic did not get into the way.

Arun Patil conducts exercises in Nahid's absence

Suddenly, near Karla Caves, the bus had a breakdown. It refused to budge till a mechanic was summoned and after two hours the bus began to move again. By then it was lunch time.
Worse was to follow. The BIG bus was refused permission to proceed to Tiger Point, the main object of going to Lonavala. And so everyone ended up buying chikkis and followed by a fleeting encounter with the monkeys of Khandala, everyone headed home. In between, Nahid Khan started feeling unwell and was administered analgesics enroute.
If anyone felt genuinely pleased with the trip, it was Shekhawat. He has been able to wrap it all up within Rs500 per head, which was no mean feat – considering that it included breakfast, lunch and light refreshments for the full group. His proudest moment, as he revealed today, was when he could refund Rs200 to every member on the trip. Not just that. He has squirreled away some loose change also for the Club kitty!
Jagmohan Papneja:
A trip to Lonavala is fruitless without chikki. It is noted that everyone ended up buying bagfuls of chikki. But where have all those chikkis gone? No mention is made here.