Depleting Stock

Arun Patil (l) wants to replenish his stock of caps

The cap issue has cropped up again. Mercifully, it is not about having to compulsorily wear them during the exercises. The issue this time is about depleting stocks and the need to replenish them.
“I am left with barely five or six pieces,” informed Arun Patil, the custodian of the club’s caps. “We need to get fresh stocks urgently. Rapid wear and tear has only increased their demand from members. After all, the current lot is more than two years old and has outlived its utility.”
Yusuf Rassiwala suggested sourcing caps of “durable and good quality fabric” even if we were to pay a little more. He pointed out flaws like fading colour, stitches coming apart and the caps losing shape – common complaints with the existing stock.
Arun seems to have already made inquiries in the market but has not been able to identify a fabricator or dealer prepared to handle “a small order” of less than 100 caps. “I’m going through the Just Dial services,” he said. “There is one supplier I could identify

Bijoy Gupta (bending down) is up to ribbing Shekhawat

in Andheri itself, who is showing some interest. Let me speak to him first.”
Over discussions, it was felt that we might even consider procuring ‘blank caps’ at a wholesale price and get the club logo printed on them, should it work out economical. “But let us not change the color and design,” Arun insisted. “Our blue caps have come to project a certain brand image that gives us a distinct identity automatically.”
He added that people keep requesting him for the Big Laaf Cap, whatever the price. “Some are even prepared to join the Club just to get a cap,” he revealed. “But when I tell them to be regular and punctual, they backtrack. They want to own a cap, but not to exercise!”
Meanwhile, Bijoy Gupta seems to be suffering from a major hangover from Independence Day. Since yesterday, he has been addressing Shekhawat as “zinda shaheed” (or living martyr). “We ought to felicitate him for the bullet wounds sustained in war,” he joked this morning. “Why didn’t anyone garland him at the function yesterday? It was a big blunder on our part!”
Shekhawat got the point and gave Gupta a fitting retort: “You should be the one to be garlanded. I will live for another 20 years… So don't worry about garlanding me.”

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
The colour of the cap certainly fades away after usage. There is a need to have fast colour and to improve the quality of the cloth of the cap.