AFVOA Newletters of Year 2004

Page 6 of 153 Mrs Sulochana Krishnaswami 10. The next game was a two in one affair, the first part of which comprised of clues hidden in simple sentences, which identified precious stones. For example, “Thieves disappear like a flash”, yielded, upon close scrutiny, “Pearl”. The winners were Col Samuel Raj and Co. The second game was called “Know your beautician”. This comprised of clues, which would identify beauty care products. An example or two will tell you of the ingenuity of the whole thing. “Deficiency + a personal pronoun” and “A common name of a girl+ pertaining to France” should lead you to yell “Lakme” and “Anne French”. If you didn’t, it is obvious you are not interested in milady’s welfare! Surprisingly, it was the men who carried the day in this game. Col Rajan, Gen Govindaswamy, Lt (RINVR) Rajagopalan (never, ever, get fooled by this octogenarian sailor’s looks!), Col Sundar, and Wg Cdrs Ravi Mani/Sukumar were winners. Theseus and the maze 11. The next game devised by Mrs Govindaswamy was a rather difficult one, and comprised of an apparently meaningless jumble of letters arranged at random in a rectangular grid. The task was for those present, having organised themselves into the groups that were formed for the earlier games, to detect and mark within the stipulated time, the names of popular vintage and current cars in use in India. What a task it was! Excitement abounded, but was not always matched by results, as we all struggled to find the 27 cars hidden in the maze: among them the Matiz, Ambassador, Chevrolet, Cielo, Palio, Montego, Octavia, Mercedes, Uno, Baleno, Escort, Contessa, Scorpio. Ultimately, most of us could not beat the clock, and the winners were Mrs Chitra Rajan and Co, while runners-up were Wg Cdr Sukumar and Col Rajan. Ulta-pulta, 6 and 9 12. 1205 IST and it was time for two enjoyable games of Tombola. The first game was presided over by Brig Muthulaxmy and by Mrs Premila Rajan, while the second game was stewarded by Mrs Lalitha Mohandas. The snowball rolled over in both games, much to the relief of the Treasurer of the AFVOA. There were many happy claimants for the houses and the part houses. Guess my weight 13. Mrs Chitra Rajan then handed out packed pouches comprising of various seeds, and the audience was asked to guess the weight/composition. As can be imagined, this was no easy task. Did you know/quizzing away 14. Col Ranganathan, the septuagenarian engineer was next to enlighten the audience with the tit-bit that saluting with the right hand was a way of showing the recipient that one did not intend harm (no weapons in the usual weapon hand, the right hand), and this evolved into the salute. He also informed us that the anomaly apparently inherent in the Major General being junior to the Lieutenant General, even if, lower down, the Subaltern was junior to the Major, was resolved if one understood that the original form of Major General was Sergeant Major General, who first formed up parades, then handed over to the Lt Gen, who then did honours to the General. In course of time, the “Sergeant” dropped out, leaving just the “Major General”. 15. Air Cmde Amirthalingam then had us perplexed just for that teeny weeny bit when he asked if it were possible for 20 men to have 24 heads. We had been so sharpened up by the earlier games, that this was “mere bagatelle” as Hercule Poirot would have said. 20 foreheads