Four Days To Go...

With four days to go for the Kashmir trip, Purushottam Sharma (left pic) has come over from Delhi and took part in the exercises this morning. He is the only outstation member to be taking the train with us from Bandra Terminus on August 31.
Meanwhile, Mumtaz Jahan left for Srinagar by an early morning flight today (after depositing a box of utensils for Shekhawat to carry by train). She has been given letters to represent the Club with the Directorate of Kashmir Tourism, which would facilitate necessary permissions for direct access to certain scenic spots during the tour. As de facto trip organizer, she assures us of “A-1 arrangements on rena, kaana-peena, goomna…” in Kashmir.
As an added bonus, we have Arun Patil (below left) preparing the ground to witness a day’s location shoot of Yash Chopra’s (hitherto untitled) film in Kashmir. A special effects wiz, Arun is part of the film unit and had left for Srinagar yesterday. He will be coordinating with Srichand Arora on the date and place for the group to converge and witness the shoot in the company of Shah Rukh Khan and possibly, Katrina Kaif.
On Shekhawat’s part, refunds have been made to those who have opted out of the trip. They include Tara Chand Seth and Mr and Mrs Harbans Singh. A couple of non-members have also been paid back the advance they had made at the time of booking three months back.
Now a question mark hangs over Monthi Serrao, who has been keeping indifferent health since her viral attack and has virtually stopped coming to the Garden. Last year, around this time she was down with malaria at Mangalore. She is experiencing similar symptoms and yet, does not want to skip the Kashmir trip. Let us hope and pray that all turns out well for her.
Yet another cause of concern is the delayed/ extended monsoon this year. Today, heavy rains interrupted our exercises and we had to take shelter in the Chinese Hut for close to half an hour (centre pic). The fear is that the monsoon buildup could disrupt train services by this week-end – as it happened across Delhi and Rajasthan last week.