Kerala Countdown

Arora is still on a collection drive for Kerala

Arora collects and Shekhawat pockets

Exactly ten days from today, the Kerala tour takes off. At 8:00 a.m. sharp on February 10, a bus will stop at the Garden gate, round up 40 selected people and whisk them to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus – in time for the Netravati Express leaving for Ernakulam. From then on, for the next seven days, they would be on their own, losing themselves in the glorious unknown – anywhere between Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Allepey and Kumarakom.
To curb all adventurous instincts, Srichand Arora has provided everybody a copy of the itinerary with details of train coach and berth, timings, local travel, stay, etc. should anybody lose his/her way or stray away from the group. What he has not bargained for is that it barely takes 10 minutes to locate a toddy shop (anywhere) in Kerala. And it can take upto 10 days to retrace one’s steps back to the hotel.
Of course, Shekhawat is with the group. But he has done one good thing in advance. He has broken the group into jodis or pairs, because hotel rooms have been booked on a twin-sharing basis. Each jodi will also share a seat on the bus while travelling and effectively be responsible for one another during the tour.

Fehmida Khan

So should someone go missing – or say, topples over the houseboat ride at night – the jodi-wala (or wali) shall be held responsible. And should both choose to disappear, then God alone help them. It’s ‘God’s Own Country’ after all.
Arora is aware of some members eager to play chhuppan-chhupai or I-Spy (pronounced ‘Ice Spice’) on tours, if only to relive their childhood. It happened during the tour of Kashmir last year when one lady, soon after arriving at Jammu station, did the disappearing act. Arora had provided the group with plastic whistles for this eventuality. Before long, everybody went peep-peep on their whistles, but the lady was still untraceable. A confused cop, alarmed by the sudden ruckus raised by a group of seniors, almost arrested Arora. Eventually, everybody had to surrender their whistles.
That lady is Fehmida Khan and she is on this tour also. Left to himself, Arora would like to radio collar her.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Successful tour management leads to successful tours. Yes, it's a lot of hard work, but it's also a whole lot of fun. Good luck!