Warming Up

Sardar Teja Singh makes a new style statement

Mumbai is warming up. Suddenly the morning temperature has shot up, even as it is still dark and the street lights are on when we enter the Garden. The stuffy cardigans and shawls of last week have disappeared and people are now looking younger and spiffier in light cottons.
Yusuf Rassiwala today replaced his patent woolen sweater with a summery yellow T-shirt. Sardar Teja Singh came in wearing a striped shirt perfectly coordinated with grey turban and grey track pants and informed that this is his “new dress for season change”. Razia Khan, Nafisa Sayed, Nahid Khan, Khatoon Baig and others looked bright and cheerful, having discarded their dull and boring woolens. And why not? Vasant Panchami, the festival that signals the onset of spring, is round the corner.
Separately, the ‘Kerala group’ is warming up for their trip, beginning next Monday. With barely six days separating them from the departure date, Shekhawat and Arora have become busier than ever tying up loose ends.

Kerala queries continue unabated

Between themselves, they have informally divided their ‘duties’ and from the way they are going about it, this should turn out to be the best planned and most well-managed excursion ever organized by the Club.
Still, a good deal of fine-tuning needs to be done during the next six days and in spite of the briefing given to the group, the two busy bodies are having to attend to a host of queries from all quarters: “How much luggage do I carry?” “Who will I be sharing my hotel room with?” “Will I be getting a window seat in the bus to Munnar?” “Will the bus halt when I want to vomit?” “When do I check whether my RAC ticket is confirmed?” “At what time does my flight leave Kochi?” “Are chapattis available in Kerala?”
There is no end to the flow of such queries and both Shekhawat and Arora are exercising extreme patience and restraint while addressing them. But then, this was only to be expected when as many as 40 people are to breathe down each other’s necks for seven long days and six longer nights. Good luck to all of them!
Jagmohan Papneja:
Thanks a lot to Shekhawat-ji and Arora-ji for organizing the tour of Kerala that fits the budget of Aam Aadmi. The group will have a great time there with the sight-seeing, local cuisine and warm hospitality.