Membership Rule

Since the beginning of this year, life has been on the fast lane at the Club. So many activities are taking place on the sidelines of our morning exercises that it comes as little surprise when strangers try to infiltrate our ranks, pretending to be members. Even otherwise, during the exercise sessions, we are seeing a couple of fresh faces every other day. The trouble with these wannabes is that they are neither serious about exercising nor consistent in their daily attendance. They do not even introduce themselves. More often than not, these mysterious beings vanish as suddenly as they appear.
Today, Shekhawat-ji (below, right) announced some basic ground rules for membership to the Club. He said that while we would continue to abide by an open-door policy, it is imperative that every new entrant attends the exercise sessions for at least three continuous months (subject to personal exigencies) to ‘qualify’ as a member in all other activities of the Club. A review would be made of the attendance every March, June, September and December and accordingly, a decision would be taken on enlisting the person or not. The membership list will thus be revised every three months.
Shekhawat-ji however, made no mention of existing ‘members’ (in the list) who have altogether ceased to show up in the Garden. Even then, by formally spelling out the ground rules, he has removed the major irritant of gatecrashers at our little celebrations in the Chinese Hut. Since everybody knows everybody, it becomes embarrassing (especially for the hosts) to weed out uninvited guests when they plonk themselves in the midst of regular members. As a result, there is always a risk of running out of food (it is no joke sourcing fresh eatables at 7.00 in the morning) and genuine invitees have to make do with leftovers. No amount of appealing to the conscience and good sense of the gatecrashers has helped so far. Hopefully, things would change from now on.
Tomorrow, we shall know. Watch this space.