Photobucket had recently changed their policy and now all the images from my 650+ blog posts are disabled. I am slowly editing them by moving my images to my own server at AWS, but it will take time. In case there is a particular old post you want to see the images of, kindly drop me a mail at mizohican@gmail.com and I'll keep that at a high priority. Thank you.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Chp 316. Of guile and betrayal.

Looks like this week is going to be a bad one. It’s been raining nonstop since yesterday. And yesterday when I reached office (completely drenched) there was one really shocking news lying in store for me – somebody that I’ve trusted for the past two years, was wanted by the cops!

Dr. Shilpa Kiran Bhandare ZAF Club is one of the more renowned gyms in and around Mumbai. I even blogged about becoming a member of this gym before, and that I would reduce my tummy in three months. One of those silly things you say when you’re pumped up with testosterone, I guess.

The membership fee is at a discounted rate of just 12 thousand per annum for people in our office since we share the same building, which is like a really good bargain for us considering this is Mumbai (everything high priced) and that it is really convenient because it’s just one floor below our office.

Every morning, for the past two years, I would pass the gym reception and a smiling Dr. Shilpa was always there to greet me. We soon became friends and she would counsel me on the food that I should eat and avoid, a personalized healthy diet plan etc etc. Eventually, I enrolled in the gym.

And now she is wanted by the cops, and I am one of the many victims of her charm and charisma.

You see, when I enrolled and paid her the 12K, she didn’t give me a receipt.


I didn’t ask her for a receipt because I’ve known her so well and we both work in the same building. Plus I got my membership card immediately including a registration on the electronic fingerprint lock.


Yeah I know what you’re thinking. I’m a big sucker right? How could anyone pay 12K without taking any receipt?

Well, at least I know I’m not the only sucker in town. Seems she’s been pulling this scam off for a long time now – befriending people and earning their trust, and then pocketing their membership fees without entering it in the books. That was her modus operandi. Unofficial gossips in the massage room say she’s pocketed more than 80 lakhs!!!!

Whoah. Easy money.

It seems the gym management started suspecting something was wrong when more and more people started turning up at the gym while there weren’t that many members registered.

Yesterday, all of us who didn’t get a receipt from Dr. Shilpa had to submit our membership cards for police investigation. This morning I spoke to the gym management and they assured me I will get my membership card back and nothing will happen to my account.

I’m still trying to get over the shock. Dr. Shilpa would be the last person I’d suspect to do something like this. I guess looks can be that deceiving sometimes. Damn you – magnetic personality.