Cold Feet

Mohan Kanwar Shekhawat

The much-touted South India tour from the Club is due to take off in less than a month (ref post of September 11). On this day next month, the 30-member group headed by Shekhawat should be painting Bangalore city red, having covered Mysore and Ooty by then.

Shekhawat is in good company

What would remain is a three-day tour of Hyderabad before everybody takes the return flight to Mumbai on December 3.
All arrangements for the ten-day jamboree, including flight and hotel reservations as well as local transport for sight-seeing have already been booked well in advance.
Now, all of a sudden, a cloud of uncertainty seems to be gathering over the trip, throwing all plans asunder. Apparently not everybody is in the best of health and there is talk of many developing cold feet. Some ladies are simply unable to summon the courage to cope with unfamiliar terrain and climatic conditions, largely due to age-related issues. That cancellation of bookings at this stage would entail huge losses monetarily has put these members in a major quandary.
Significantly, the biggest question mark is hanging on Mohan Kanwar Shekhawat, wife of our group leader.

Shagufta (l) wants to leverage Big Laaf for a marketing event

For quite some time she has been complaining of ailments (ranging from a bad back to stomach upset and vomiting tendency) which, in a sense, prevent her from attending the morning exercises at the Garden. According to Shekhawat, medical tests have revealed nothing – to the extent that on their recent trip to Haridwar, Badrinath, etc., she was absolutely fit as a fiddle. “God knows what happens when she is back,” he remarked. “Now her condition has turned so bad that it is quite unlikely she’d make it to the South next month. And if she does not go, how can I go?”
This has set alarm bells ringing because if Shekhawat drops out, the trip collapses. And since Shekhawat’s presence hinges on his wife, members are making solicitous phone calls home checking on 'bhabi-ji’s health’. Today, a delegation from the Club paid her a courtesy visit and pleaded with her not to leave them in the lurch. They even convinced her that her condition is purely psychosomatic and that she would recover fully once she joins the trip to the south. But first, she must start coming to the Garden for the exercises.
Mrs Shekhawat promised not to let them down. We shall know tomorrow.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It was nice that the group had called on Mrs Shekhawat to prepare her mentally and psychologically for the journey. She will certainly feel better and fit in the company of the group. Good health and good luck to her.