Going, Going…

The Club today gave a warm send-off to the 33-member group bound for Kashmir. At 7.55 a.m. tomorrow, they would leave by the Swaraj Express from Bandra Railway Terminus and after a 31-hour journey, alight at Jammu Tawi on Saturday afternoon. After a brief rest, they would hit the road by bus and after another journey of nine hours, reach Srinagar on Sunday.
On behalf of the Club, Sitaram Hivarkar garlanded Hari Singh Shekhawat for having taken the initiative and pains in organizing the trip and wished him and the group a very happy and safe journey (lead pic) ahead. He recounted how, over the past three months, the latter had worked tirelessly round the clock at putting this trip together – enlisting the participation of so many members, getting their bookings confirmed, handling the accounts and against all odds, bringing things to a head today.
In April, soon after the Goa picnic, when Shekhawat came up with the Kashmir idea, nobody had given him a chance in hell at ever pulling it off. After all, never before had anyone from the Club organized an excursion of this scale. Today, it all seems a miracle. Indeed, were it not for Shekhawat (left pic), this trip would not have materialized.
However, his job is far from over. He of course, enjoys the moral support and backing of Srichand Arora, who has volunteered to shoulder much of the responsibilities during the tour. Between the two, decisions on the itinerary, mode of travel, handling of cash and unforeseen exigencies will be taken on behalf of the group. It was only appropriate that Arora was also garlanded (by Tara Chand Seth) this morning.
Since today was the last day before the group takes off, the Chinese Hut had turned into a beehive of activity – the area resembling the departure lounge of an airport (right pic). If someone wanted to know a seat number in the train, another needed clarification on money matters and a third was barking instructions on how to reach the station and a fourth was confused on the exact date of return… In this chaos, there were well-wishers telling the group to return in “single one-piece” while out of nowhere, a joker broke into a soulful song: “O jaane waley ho sakey toh laut ke na aana!” No, this was no airport lounge. It was a pucca mad house.
Harish Wadhwa:
* Kudos to Shekhawat-ji for his untiring efforts at making this trip happen. As a key organiser, he took pains to dig information, share it, get travel ticketing done, bookings, cancellations, money matters, follow-up and persuading members to join, coordinate with Mumtaz-ji... Great job ! He truly deserves to be felicitated for all that he has done for mobilising a strong group of 33 people for this trip. Kya baat! Kya baat!! Kya baat!!!
* It was also nice to see the big and warm send-off by all other members wishing them happy time, great fun and memories from this trip. For many days, it will be a 'talk of the town' and gossip. All the best for the trip.
Bhaswati Bose:
Wishing a happy journey to "jo savere wali gaadi se chale jayenge... aur kuchh leke aayenge!" Have a great time!
Kishor Babani:
Wishing all the 33 members a very happy and safe journey. A message for them: Please take care of each other. And come back safely with beautiful memories of Kashmir.
Renu Babani:
Farewell, till we meet again. Have a blast, all of you. We shall await great stories upon your return. God Bless!
Harish Wadhwa adds:
Renu-ji and Bhaswati-ji -- We shall await their return with "kuchh le ke aayenge". It could be (as Kishor-da said) a Kashmir ki kali or apples, walnuts, almonds, cherries, apricot, figs, dry fruits... I hope someone on the trip is reading the blog to understand our humble expectations.