The Legend of Pinocchio

The trek to Kille Rajgad (taken up by all but one regular Knights, plus one squire) is one of the memories we knights will remember till eternity. The torrential rains, the green countryside, great locations and greatest friends made this trek one of those places/times which are mentioned every time we meet.

This was also the trek where "The Legend of Pinocchio" was born...


The Distress

This being a 2 day-trek, we carried lunch for one time, and raw materials to cook for all other meals, with the help of stove we carried. Now those of you who have used (or at least tried to use) a kerosene stove, know that lighting it is an art, the most essential tool for that being a pin to clean the holes. Of course, since the tasks were distributed, we ended up carrying 3 pins, none of which fit the stove in question.

The Knight in Split Pants to The Rescue

Those of you who are "trekkies" will know that at the camp sites with at least semi-permanent dwellings (in this case a temple), people often leave things which fellow-travellers will find useful, like extra matchboxes, a packet of kerosene, stove-pins etc. So, it fell upon us to search the nooks and crannies of the (by that time) dark temple. It was in this quest, that out guest squire in his Split Pants (dubbed so because of a wardrobe malfunction, more about it later) proved his worth.


He never returned from a round of temple pin-less. In all his rounds, he found more than a dozen pins, (often in or near the places others had looked) leaving the rest three of us (combined) behind by at least half a dozen. His exploits prompted us to dub him on the spot as "Sir Pin-occhio, The Seeker of Pins", a name which he proudly carries to date (or at least, we persist in calling him that).

Of course, as all the followers of Saint Murphy would guess, none of those pins would fit the stove, and we had to cut our trip short, spending remaining time on milk-powder added to cold water and raw maggie noodles.



- For I am The Great Eagle...

P.S. For mre about "Knights of The Round Table", click on "Round Table" in the "Labels" links.

Luna( Gymnas)tics

(Satyaghatana pe adharit)

Once upon a time, we were standing outside one of our friends' houses on the road and talking. We observed a young man (from some garage most probably) driving a kinetic luna (the vehicle my generation would be very familiar with). Suddenly, in the middle of the road, the seat of his vehicle dropped on the ground.

Since the luna wasn't going at the breakneck speed, he easily survived the fall without any injury. But now, he was presented with a very bad problem, how to continue his journey with the fallen seat? After some scratching of the head, he hit upon the idea.

He set the seat back in its place, sat in the depression between the petrol tank and the seat, and continued onwards...

We watched all this in silence, and then COTRL (collapsed on the road laughing)...


Here's some 3000 words which will give you a rough idea of what happened.



Now you know what your manager (or management prof) means when he says "thinking by the seat of the pants"...



- For I am The Great Eagle...


P.S. Who knew my artistic talents stretched as far as creating comic strips.... Mwahahaha!!!!

Lucky Chap...

One of my friends sent me a mail about DCH, which triggered an old memory.

Some days after DCH was released, we watched Speed and DCH back to back in my friend's house. Now, watching DCH was not an event then, because by that time we had memorized almost the entire movie. Anyways, this movie marathon resulted in our recognizing that the movie running inside DCH (while Akash's blue-black eye is being praised) is Speed. Anyways, the post is not about this...

The people who have watched Speed may remember that almost at the end of movie, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are trying to escape the speeding bus by means of a board, lying on top of each other. Of course, we boys erupted in comments like "lucky chap" etc. But the comment which took the cake was, "ani pudhe bumps ahet" ("there are bumps ahead").

My friend recons that the ability of his shoulder to predict rains and cold weather is dates back to this day, specifically to the pummeling he got from the girls on account of this comment.



- For I am The Great Eagle...



S.P. For all those still scratching there heads and wondering why this is funny, think of why you (or your friends, which is more likely if you really didn't figure it out) speed over potholes or speed breakers when you have a girl riding pillion. Then think of doing this when the girl is lying on top of you. And then think why I had to explain the joke to you.

About Manners and Decorum

It's not just us Knights who make life easier for people around us. There are some of our friends who also hold honorary positions at The Table, because of their sense of humour...

11th std. We the friends had gone on a camp on an island with a group. On the island, the living arrangements consisted of one large tent for us boys (around 10), a large tent for girls (similar number), followed by the tents for families and instructors.

After some near misses on the first day, we had to tell the girls to ask if anybody is changing (there being no doors to knock on) before charging in inside our tent, all the while being aware that a large head-sized hole (at about chest height) near the curtain (which served as door) rendered this precaution something less than that. But then, there is such a thing as decorum...

On the second day, one of our friends sticks his head inside the tent through aforem. hole and asks loudly, "Is anybody changing?"

Before the astonished occupants of the tent could answer, he continues, "No? Then I won't come in" and walks off... leaving us spectators RITSL.


- For I am The Great Eagle...

Glossary:
RITSL = rolling in the sand, laughing

We Are The Knights of The Round Table

Being a compilation of small incidents involving the Knights and those in our circle.


Two of my friends are waiting for the light to go green at one of the busiest squares in Pune. Signal goes green, but the uncle in front of them is not even seen trying to start his bike, and they are trapped in bumper-to-mudguard traffic. After waiting some time for the person to show some activity,

My Friend: Uncle, can you please go ahead? You won't get a better shade of green than this here.

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One of our Football Ignorant Friend (FIF) is watching World Cup with us and My Friend's Dad (MFD). There is a penalty from just outside of the box, and the team starts forming the wall.

FIF: Why are they holding hands there?
MFD (in all sincerity): So that they can make sure the person next to them does not run away when ball comes at him.

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We are discussing with one of my friend's wife-to-be (WTB) that we won't be able attend their marriage as all of us three (out of group of 4) are out of town (and country, in my case) that month. She gets angry and

WTB: We won't attend your marriages now.
My friend: That's ok. We will just dangle a bone in front of him¹ , and he will come².
WTB: That's not correct...
Me: Yes, that's not correct. He is in ortho. We will need a broken bone.

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We are discussing the looong lines to fill the engineering admission forms.

My friend: I was standing in one spot for so long, that my feet gathered lichen on them.

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One of our friend's cell is erratic. She is telling me and my friend who is a captain in Army.

My friend: You won't be able to dial his number. The "9" key is broken.³
Captain: That's easy. Just dial 5 and then 4, or vice-versa...
Me: Spoken like a true Army Captain and a son of mathematician...

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This can only happen on the round table... The Table has seen many such days, and will see many more in the years to come, when we know that "stomach splitting due to laughter" is not a fable.

We Are The Knights of The Round Table....


Footnotes:
1. Like the famed carrot in front of... you get it.
2. He is studying for his orthopaedic MD.
3. In India, all cell numbers start with 9.