Excitement Mounts

Shekhawat rejoices at response towards February 13  picnic

Excitement is building up for the one-day picnic scheduled on February 13 (Saturday) at Royal Hills resort, Mumbai.
Within a day of the announcement (ref yesterday’s post), a dozen-odd members have already paid an advance, booking their seats on the trip. Even strangers are walking up, wanting to register for the picnic.
However, a spot decision was taken today to selectively limit the picnic group to “not more than a single bus load” (roughly 30 to 35) with priority to Big Laaf members and their family/ spouses on a first-come, first-served basis.
Only thereafter would the requests from so-called ‘outsiders’ be entertained subject to the availability of seats -- and that too, upon the approval of a majority of members. The idea is to lend a sense of exclusivity to the Big Laaf group rather than create a mob-like situation with unruly strangers, as has often been the case in the past.

Head count begins from now...

By and large, those who had missed the last picnic at Royal Hills on August 2015 appear most enthusiastic this time. They include Srichand Arora, Kiran Prakash, Lt Col Angad Singh and Santosh Tyagi, among others. Mallika Kagzi is also keen to go, but isn’t quite sure whether her “husband would allow” – this despite our insisting that she also bring him along.
Harbans Kaur is another, more so since she was the one to initially propose the picnic and had set the ball rolling. “Right now, there is no certainty,” she said truthfully.
As for the rest, those who had gone the last time are more or less committed this time also – barring Yusuf Rassiwala (who has a marriage to attend in Surat) and Razia Khan (who has a marriage to attend in Mumbai). Bijoy Gupta has some reservations about “going to the same old place again” just like Swati Punjabi, another fence-sitter. But then, she has promised to gift a bottle of champagne to the picnic group on February 13 – which is also being celebrated as Club Day for the first time.
Lt Col Angad Singh (retd):
Members of the Club are spending about two hours together before getting busy in their daily routine. The picnic gives us the opportunity to be together for a longer time. It strengthens our bonding in the long run.