Picnic Mood

Hectic activity in the run-up to Lonavala Picnic

With three days to go, the ‘Lonavala Picnic’ has hijacked every activity in the Club. Nothing else matters – not the rains, not the attendance, not the music, not Sitaram Hivarkar’s continued absence, not the jokes session…
No sooner were the exercises over than Shekhawat fished out The List and one after another, people started paying up to book their seats for the trip. Some did not pay upfront but gave their "word of honour" to bring the cash tomorrow. On Santosh Tyagi’s advice, Shekhawat was to close the bookings today for members and from tomorrow, subject to availability of seats, invite ‘outsiders’. It seems he would now be able to accommodate just about half-a-dozen non-members, a majority of who would be from the yoga group.

Happy Birthday RAMILA-BEN!

This scenario is in sharp contrast to the situation prevailing till yesterday (see post). In fact, Shekhawat would now be hard-pressed to accommodate some so-called “friends of the Club” who are neither members nor yoga-group regulars. Significantly, many of these people do not like the meaning of membership. On the other hand, a strong ladies' lobby is building up resisting the infiltration of non-members in the trip.
The weather playing havoc is another factor weighing heavily on everybody. After Monthi Serrao’s alarmist remarks on landslides yesterday, Srichand Arora today informed that the Kasara section of the Ghats has given way due to rains. Others quoted their building neighbors on certain roads leading to Lonavala being closed to vehicular traffic because of landslides. The scariest story was of Amby Valley (in Lonavala proper) “crumbling down” in the rains and one more bus (from Big Laaf?) would level the area flat beyond recognition.
And yet, everyone is upbeat – the general attitude being to set out with a silent prayer on the lips and leave the rest to Shekhawat and God (in that order). In between, an extra laugh was raised for Ramila Mistry as it happened to be her birthday today. She has not been coming to the Garden for some time and so, through this blog, we all wish her many happy returns of the day.
Harish Wadhwa:
* Happy Birthday Ramila-ji. Have a great time today and for all the years to follow.
* I too have a similar feedback from friends. Lonavala is flooded with Mumbaikars due to run-away weekends. The traffic is chaotic and full of jams. So just take care.
Dilip Babani:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAMILA-JI!