AFVOA Newsletter May 2020

Section 3 - Memoirs Newsletter No. 1 / 2020 P a g e 34 | 101 2 Visit to Chennai Metro Rail – 11 JAN 2020 Wg Cdr C Ravishankar Genre: Educational Visit hen it came to the mystical number game of Tambola, the theoretical probabilities of round robin and law of averages never worked for me, even for a part house, all through my 22 years of service. The proverbial rubbing of salt into the wound invariably happened always and every time when the person seated next to me kept winning part and full houses always and every time. My reputation grew so much that there was a clamour for a seat next to mine in social gatherings, obviously not for my stimulating company. The natural elan and dismissive air of some of the seasoned Command and Service level Tambola players made matters worse and I decided to get away from it all. Karma, the bitch that it is, followed me during my initial days of association with EXSOA (as AFVOA was known then) as well and I forcibly weaned myself away. When my good friend and senior brother in arms Harsha asked me recently as to why I am not attending AFVOA meetings, I jokingly remarked that the day I get to hear that there is no Tambola, I will attend. By jove, such a day dawned. And how! While the scheduled time for start was 10:15 am, a vast majority of veterans and families, were already seated in the Auditorium even by 10 am, clearly unable to shake off the habit-forming trait of punctuality. This is a matter worthy of a mention in dispatches here when you consider the average age of the audience is close to 70! Seated amongst us was a nonagenarian, Wg Cdr K V Lakshminarayanan, which was inspiration enough for the other 58 present! The much-regimented veterans all heard the unspoken “How’s the josh today” and he heard back the “High Sir” in chorus! It was compulsive soldier-like enthusiasm and inquisitiveness that drove Lt Col Eusoibus to fly from Bengaluru exclusively for this event! W