Bangkok Countdown

Exchanging notes in the run up to the Bangkok Tour

Razia Khan (r) wishes Kiran Prakash bon voyage on his Cairo trip

The countdown has already started for the Bangkok Tour (November 1 to 7, 2017). With less than 10 days to go, excitement is mounting as Bihari Milwani, Bhaswati Bose, Nahid Siddiqui, Kajal Babani, Pushpa Gupta and others in the 20-member group go through the ritual of last-minute shopping (for clothes, naturally) and tying up personal loose ends for the trip.
The essential formalities are long over and done with. Right from flight bookings and hotel reservation to obtaining visas, travel insurance, foreign exchange and finalizing itinerary and local transport, everything has gone off smoothly. As Bijoy Gupta remarked, all that remains now is that “they pack their bags and board the flight”.
Significantly, Gupta is not going on the trip, but his wife is. In fact, barring the Milwanis, no other couple from the Club is going on the trip. The men are mostly staying back to look after home and hearth while their wives would be away, thereby creating an amusing role-reversal of sorts. After all, Bangkok and Pattaya are known to be happy playgrounds for men who are single -- or pretend to be.
In all this, Kiran Prakash dropped a bombshell this morning by announcing that he would have to be in Egypt tomorrow. He too is booked for the Bangkok trip. But now, he will have to fly to Cairo tonight with his wife for a Nile Cruise his son (in the U.S.) has arranged for them. For purely sentimental reasons, he cannot disappoint the latter and would now have to rush to catch the cruise liner and also be back in time to join the Bangkok Tour.
As things stand, his return ticket would get him home late evening on October 31. Clearly, that would be cutting it too fine because by then, the Bangkok group would be ready to check in at the Mumbai international airport. Kiran Prakash says that he would try his best to join them, but a lot would depend on his health/ fatigue factor and the timely arrival of his flight from Cairo.
Let’s hope for the best.

Bihari Milwani:
Kiran Prakash is going to Egypt to explore the possibility of taking next trip of Big Laaf to that country. I am sure he will be an excellent guide to all of us. Since he is going with this spouse, I am sure more couples would join that trip as against only one couple for the Bangkok trip.