Waste of Time

Today was one of those rare days when exercises in the Garden seemed a complete waste of time. We should have been at some place else. The weather was cool and breezy with brief spells of rain – just ideal for hot-hot pakoras and tea in some roadside stall, as Dilip Babani likes to say.
“Picnic toh banaao,” Bijoy Gupta urged. “If nothing else, let us at least go out for a day -- Gorai Beach or Saina Resort…”
Shekhawat had obviously weightier things on his mind as he had come formally dressed,

Gupta (r) prods Shekhawat for picnic

Sunita Jajodia (r) visits Santosh Tyagi

ready for an appointment with doctors at the naval hospital in Colaba. But Yusuf Rassiwala and Banoo Apa were assuring: “Let us get over July as there are too many birthdays and parties coming up. August could be a good time for a picnic.”
“But then there would be Independence Day,” Gupta complained.
Fact is, there are inherent risks for elderly people suddenly turning adventurous during the rainy season. The ground turns slimy and treacherous, be it on a beach or rocky hillock and should we go too far out of Mumbai, chances are we would get stuck midway because of a landslide or traffic snarl.
Ideally we ought to restrict ourselves to familiar terrain like the Borivili National Park or Chhota Kashmir where the ground is relatively firm and the risk to life and limb is minimal. Let's see what the majority opinion is.