Travelers’ Tales

Mallika narrates her tale of woe in Surat

Nahid recounts her journey from Lucknow

We rejoice every time someone returns from a vacation; but rarely do we ask how the trip has been. The person concerned does not care to elaborate either. All is lost in the hurry-burry of a treat and everybody disperses soon after.
Yesterday was no different. Mallika Kagzi returned from her trip to Surat and as expected, she came to the Garden loaded with nankhatai and a flask of home-made tea. Everybody had their fill, thanked her and moved on little knowing that the lady had been virtually bedridden for the best part of her stay in Surat.

Razia Khan wants the lunch to be delinked from picnic

Only this morning did Mallika find a sympathetic audience to narrate her plight following a severe bout of food poisoning.
Likewise, nobody had the courtesy to inquire from Nahid Khan how her trip to Lucknow had been. We were all too happy to gorge on the biscuits she had brought from Burma Sweet House (ref post of December 1) without even sparing a thought on what the Band Aid on the nape of her neck was about. Today Nahid got the chance to recount her ordeal on the journey back by train when a careless co-passenger on the bunk above hers spilled steaming hot tea upon her. It instantly scalded the skin down her neck and back, leaving an ugly dark patch that she has since been trying hard to hide.
Meanwhile, murmurs of dissent are being heard over the picnic planned for this week-end (December 6) at Chhota Kashmir (ref post of November 28). Geeta Sardana has objected to clubbing it with the general body meeting and wants to know whose idea it was to shift the venue (of meeting) from the China Hut. Razia Khan came up with the proposal of organizing the lunch on another day in a nearby restaurant rather than link it to the picnic and meeting. Both suggestions were summarily shot down because it is too late now to make any changes on a programme set for the day-after tomorrow.