Now does it really matter that Mala ended up without getting any prize on that day? "Participation is more important ," saying, she consoled herself and at the end of the day, it was yet again, time to reflect upon her strengths and weaknesses.
It was the beginning of Women's day celebration at work.The celebrations were kicked off with a series of competitions.The auditorium on the seventh floor was not packed to capacity. It was an all woman gathering and needless to say , the ambience was simply divine.Thirty, all women teams of two members each were participating in the competitions.
The first event was to solve three jigsaw puzzles of 25 pieces each in 5 minutes.To work on one puzzle together at a time and to move on, to the next one only on completion was the condition. The team put in place two puzzles and 5 pieces of the third one. A point system was followed to evaluate the score. The team comprising of Mala and Rama were awarded 25 + 25 + 5 = 55 points.The top scores in the event were 61,59, 57,and 55.
Here one should clearly understand the importance of staying calm while working in a pressure situation.Panic can mar performance and it is absolutely imperative to stay cool headed, shut one's ears to any external sound, including the ring of the bell that indicates the Start and the Stop and lend a deaf ear to any prompts in between, that keeps one informed of the time remaining.
Just remember that while staying focussed, with the mind concentrating on just the completion, speed is gained naturally. It is when, one gets diverted or tends to panic that pieces begin to fall out of place.This is exactly what happened when the Mala-Rama team began to work on the third puzzle with one minute remaining. As Mala brought relevant pieces together, Rama was separating them.They could have completed the third one and romped home victorious.Or did they lack the killer instinct? It was certainly not their day.
The next event was "What's the good word ?"
Find the word in one minute with three clues, all one words was the condition It was Rama's turn to pick up a chit.
She opened the chit with much enthusiasm.It read "Receipt".
Her first clue to her partner was " Payment"
Mala said " Salary,"
She posed the second clue " Acknowledgement,"
Mala said " Receipt."
Bingo it was done in just two clues.
Their score jumped to 55 + 25
"What's the proverb?" was the next.
This was a Dumb Charade round.To find out the the proverb in one minute was the condition .
Rama continued to be on the posing clues end. Mala stayed on at the answering end. Mala was fantastic with her responses and Rama was simply amazed at her partner's razor sharp memory.The much needed answer was still eluding Mala and a visbly upset Rama tried her best to motivate Mala.
Maybe Rama was not aptly expressive enough to explain to her partner the proverb "A Penny saved is a penny earned " though she did try her best to emote well. In a half packed auditorium, not realising that she was acting dumb, Rama was performing a solo mime show, much to the amusement of the audience.
Mala did understand that the proverb contained the word "penny." She was quick to grasp, build upon it and started firing proverbs one after another. She said "Penny Wise Pound Foolish," "A penny in Time is as good as a dollar," "In for a Penny in for a pound," Penny for your thoughts," "cost a pretty penny ," "be ten a penny," ...........and the hall was reverberating with laughter .
As a helpless actor exclaimed in sheer frustration, showed signs of despair,expressed her desperation with random hand movements, a mute Rama was signalling to Mala in all possible ways. She made an effort to show that she saved and she earned. She made the picture of a piggy bank in thin air, formed a line with two volunteers, stood in the make believe queue, pushed a hand into what she wanted Mala to believe was the cash counter of a bank and collected the cash. Rama counted invisible paper money, she waved , she showed her partner that she felt on top on the world but alas all to no avail...
The proverb sealed their fate and the score of the Mala-Rama team stayed at
" 55 + 25 "
On an otherwise warm and sultry day,the break was welcome for the cool headed women employees. It was an enjoyable afternoon inside a freezing cold auditorium. The atmosphere was electric and hilarious .Some teams had opted for Thamizh. The expressions were simply priceless ,especially " Kaiyukku etinadhu vaayukku yettalai" when the actor jumped ,skipped with her arms stretched out, bending alternatingly ,with fingers close to the face but away from the mouth and finally waving her hands together in criss cross fashion to show the inability of the hand to reach the mouth. In a sides splitting scenario, the audience went hysterical as someone in the audience commented rather loudly....This is certainly a case of
" Hand in Mouth ".
No comments:
Post a Comment