Booking Closed

Monthi Serrao accounts for cash receipts meant for the trip

Tara Chand Seth also wants to pay Monthi some money

The House Full board has come up for the South India tour (ref post of September 3) beginning November 24, 2015. The required number of 30 members has been reached and no further booking is being accepted. However, in the face of mounting pressure from other interested members, a ‘waiting list’ is now being drawn up in the event of last-minute drop-outs.
As things stand, the itinerary for the tour is as follows:
Departure Mumbai (by air): 24/11/2015
24/11 (night stay): Bangalore
25/11 to 26/11 (two nights): Mysore
27/11 to 28/11 (two nights): Ooty
29/11 (one night): back in Bangalore
30/11: overnight train to Hyderabad
01/12 to 02/12 (two nights): Hyderabad
03/12: Return to Mumbai (by air)
Significantly, the steadily lengthening ‘waiting list’ already has five members – among them, regulars like Bijoy Gupta and his wife, Pushpa. In all probability, Shekhawat would like to include them also, leaving nobody disappointed. But this more-the-merrier attitude is being strongly resisted, the argument being that the group would become ‘totally unmanageable’. The 40-member troupe on the disastrous Kerala tour of 2013 is being cited as a case in point.
There is yet another problem. Reports from the tour operator in Ooty indicate that any bus larger than a 30-seater would not be able to negotiate the sharp hair-pin bends on narrow hill tracts, thereby entailing a good deal of walking for the seniors.
Nobody wants to be caught in such a situation. And engaging two medium-sized buses would only raise costs – not to mention the individual liability of paying higher air fares for booking late.
How these issues are resolved depends entirely upon Shekhawat. He would have to take the final call when he returns from his vacation this month-end.