Ghost Membership

Shekhawat pitches for being lenient towards indisciplined members 

The issue of 'ghost members' raised its head this morning with Shekhawat advocating that we must not be rigid about attendance and punctuality during the exercises. “We are losing members this way,” he explained. “Everybody has problems at home, particularly the ladies. That is why they cannot come in time. We must try to understand this rather than penalize them for coming late or being irregular.”
“How can you solve anybody’s domestic problems?” countered Arun Patil. “This is nothing but bogus talk. Nobody is forcing anybody to come to the Garden. But if you can come, you should be here in time. Or else, you would be setting a bad example for the rest of the Club and this cannot be tolerated.”
“There are many who would rather not show up than be ticked off for coming late,” informed Banoo Apa, who, like Shekhawat, apprehended a shrinking of membership were we to be too rigid about discipline and punctuality.
Yusuf Rassiwala promptly made an assessment of all those who have paid their annual

Shekhawat  with Rakhee Bansi and Vandana Kankanwar

subscription and concluded that the Club, as of now, has a healthy membership strength. “What is the purpose of having people who are not interested in exercising and habitually turn up just before we wind up?” he asked. He also had a word of praise for Arun for enforcing discipline and illustrated how attendance and punctuality have only improved after he turned firm and authoritarian.
“Some members often argue that they come here only to meet their friends and socialize,” Arun said. “We don’t want such people. This is not a social club.”
Yusuf R did not mention it, but Banoo Apa pointed out that many are known to turn up only for the parties and retain their membership primarily for this purpose. Kiran Prakash had counted more than 200 treats/ parties last year, which is not a bad bargain for the nominal fee charged for retaining membership.
Undeterred, Shekhawat argued for inflating membership numbers regardless of who comes when and why, so long as they pay the annual subscription. And then it became crystal clear why he was so persistent about the ghost membership. Minutes later, he was hobnobbing under a tree with Rakhee Bansi and Vandana Kankanwar -- two members never seen to exercise with us!