Exhausted!

Shekhawat (ext right) is cornered for a party

After an unusually tumultuous week, most members took a break today. Banoo Apa, Bijoy Gupta, Rukhsana Khan, Bihari Milwani, Saeeda Sayed… were conspicuous by their absence. The freeze in the air also contributed to the low turnout. As a result Shekhawat was left holding all the flowers he had collected for late-comers.
Shekhawat walked into another trap of his own making. A couple of weeks back, he

Urmila Sinha shares cut fruits

announced that he would like to invite all Club members home to meet his pota (grandson) Shlok, who is here from London on his winter vacation. It would be in the nature of a meet-and-greet followed by dinner hosted by a proud grandfather.
“The only hitch is that the lift in my building is out of order,” he said. “It should get repaired any time now. Till then, our only option is to take the stairs up five floors... and that can be very exhausting. I suggest we’d rather wait till the lift gets repaired and then we can have a proper party. We still have time because Shlok’s return ticket to London is booked for January 18.”
Today, Nahid Khan reminded Shekhawat of his “pending promise” and asked whether the lift could be repaired. When he replied in the negative, Zarina Khan jumped in to suggest that “there were other places away from home” to host a party. In other words, she was asking for a party in some hotel/ restaurant.
Shekhawat instantly developed cold feet. He tried to wriggle out on the pretext that his family members (and particularly his son) would have to take time out and he needs to check their convenience. “Instead, why don’t I get some food packets and distribute them in the Garden?” he asked. “I think that is a better idea.”
The suggestion was met with pin drop silence. That said it all.

Bihari Milwani:
We can have the dinner party in Mr Shekhawat's building ground like the way we did for our New Year party (in the building compound of Mr Maitra).