"So here we are, in Lonavala!" quoth one of them.
A loud whistle blew, not from the train's engine but it was the brawny VP of the troop, commanding the troop to stand in a single file. With the 5 feet wooden staves held under their right shoulders and with heavy, fully-loaded haversacks on each one's back, the troop trudged their way through the small winding roads of the town, which had just had the taste of the crisp golden sunshine. Everything looked so perfect; the quaint town folks, the cool breeze that carried the perfume of morning freshness and the heavy pants from each of the troop boys. The hike to 'Perzino', a bungalow surrounded by a few acres of green lawns and the welcoming bloomed flowers, was a small one of about 4kms.
The boys of the West Bombay Scout Group were instructed to accommodate themselves on the 1st level of the mansion, while the leaders grabbed the stilt. Within minutes, another whistle was heard! The boys were just about to undress, but had to run to fetch their new instructions. As the motto went "Be Prepared", it had to be preached in "No matter what!" situations. After the usual questionnaire of 'Why the boys didn't make it in time' in assembling, they were made to realize that the day was not as good as it seemed. They were reminded of being instructed earlier, to carry ropes, pegs and tarpaulin, but no one did.
"If you want to have pleasing 4 days here, you will have to get your own stuff", commanded the troop leader (TL) with a deep voice, "Now go to the town, and get the essentials!". "Do not forget, you still have to prepare your own food", and he left.
They left instantly, after they were dispersed from the usual horse-shoe formation and started the weary walk to the town market (the same way they very excitedly walked early that morning). After traversing a distance of 8, they started building their canvas homes. An hour of sweatful construction in the now bright sunshine, they wore their long white chef caps and prepared lunch for themselves. The afternoon nap, in the tent, was truly the walnut in the brownie kinds. The day ended quite in ease, with a rejuvenating dip in Duct-Line, cutting from behind the camping area and the campfire activities with some amazing performances by the tireless fellows. This ended Day 1 in a 'not so bad' terms.
Hmm, I think it's high time we introduced one of the boys of this troop - Mst. Skroozin. He faced the same as the others that day, maybe a little more since he was 124kms away from home, more specifically parents! Lying on his back in the pitch-dark room, all he could see were the fire-flies pillowing on the high roof above him. He started looking for a tube of 'Odomos' to repel those wretched from sucking on him. Instead he managed to put something better on him, something that he would have on his enamel some hours later. Though it did manage to keep those blood-suckers away, all night, it also very much managed to burn all night in places not worth mentioning!
The next day brought a new hope, with the rising sun. With time constraint set such, the boys had to bathe in a group of 4 in a 2 by 2, in order to meet up with ticking hands. Just as they always assembled every Sunday at August Kranti Maidan, Bombay, today they were to assemble too. Just a small re-direction here. Mst. Skroozin was the Patrol Leader (PL) of the Wolves patrol. His duties (rather all the PL's there) were to make sure that his patrol was ready in time for the assembly. And as the mother fate had to pierce the arrow on someone special today, there it was Mst. Scroozin, given the task to prepare the group flag for the hoisting. It was his first time, that he had to do it all on his own - from folding the flag, to knotting it and to raising it up folded on to the pole.
The whistle blew, the patrols were assembled in the horse-shoe and Scout Skroozin was given orders to hoist the flag after the short group song. The eyes widened, the stares went on, the hearts pounded and the pulses rose. The Troop Leader (TL) removed his golden yellow Lanyard instantly, pulled Scout Skroodzin's hand in the front and 'Saaat saat saat', there they went on his hands, leaving dark red scars of wound rope on his fair forearms. He right away shouted, "Scout Scroodzin!, what is this!?! How can you do such a thing, this is a shame on one and all!". "I am giving you exactly 5 mins, do whatever you can, I want this flag hoisted in the correct manner!" "Troop Disperse!" and there we walked away with wrath.
"What happened!?" enquired he with the boys. "Look behind you fool, look what you did! He is gonna screw you now. How could you hoist the flag upside down???" "Go and correct it!"
In his mind he said, "So what if it was upside down, just turn it around and hoist it again". Mother fate, help this guy, I just hope he doesn't just speak out, what he just thought!
Well, after 5 mins, the flag was hoisted again, correctly this time (phew!) the assembly got over, the others were told to go back to their places and to get ready for Inspection, while Scout Skroodzin was told to stay back. One, two, three... there they went, kicks that warmed his back. "Scout Skroodzin, I want you to clean up this entire area off dry leaves, and after you're done report to me", yelled the TL. How much more could the 14 year old sensitive Sagittarian handle. Innocent tears dropped from his eyes and damped the dry ground below as he bent and started collected the dry leaves. "I have never done this even at home!", thought he. After an hour of cleaning, he was now instructed to run around the field, do a Duck-Walk and Bunny-Hops and yes not to forget, the food for the patrol would be prepared all by himself that day.
With the sun drowning behind the mulberry trees, his bones, now felt so soft and rubberified, he could barely stand and walked as if he just had a... forget it, not for general public :) The day ended and so did the fear of having any worse day. And as of now, he still wonders why didn't they just turn the flag upside down and let it go. BIG DEAL!!!
A loud whistle blew, not from the train's engine but it was the brawny VP of the troop, commanding the troop to stand in a single file. With the 5 feet wooden staves held under their right shoulders and with heavy, fully-loaded haversacks on each one's back, the troop trudged their way through the small winding roads of the town, which had just had the taste of the crisp golden sunshine. Everything looked so perfect; the quaint town folks, the cool breeze that carried the perfume of morning freshness and the heavy pants from each of the troop boys. The hike to 'Perzino', a bungalow surrounded by a few acres of green lawns and the welcoming bloomed flowers, was a small one of about 4kms.
The boys of the West Bombay Scout Group were instructed to accommodate themselves on the 1st level of the mansion, while the leaders grabbed the stilt. Within minutes, another whistle was heard! The boys were just about to undress, but had to run to fetch their new instructions. As the motto went "Be Prepared", it had to be preached in "No matter what!" situations. After the usual questionnaire of 'Why the boys didn't make it in time' in assembling, they were made to realize that the day was not as good as it seemed. They were reminded of being instructed earlier, to carry ropes, pegs and tarpaulin, but no one did.
"If you want to have pleasing 4 days here, you will have to get your own stuff", commanded the troop leader (TL) with a deep voice, "Now go to the town, and get the essentials!". "Do not forget, you still have to prepare your own food", and he left.
They left instantly, after they were dispersed from the usual horse-shoe formation and started the weary walk to the town market (the same way they very excitedly walked early that morning). After traversing a distance of 8, they started building their canvas homes. An hour of sweatful construction in the now bright sunshine, they wore their long white chef caps and prepared lunch for themselves. The afternoon nap, in the tent, was truly the walnut in the brownie kinds. The day ended quite in ease, with a rejuvenating dip in Duct-Line, cutting from behind the camping area and the campfire activities with some amazing performances by the tireless fellows. This ended Day 1 in a 'not so bad' terms.
Hmm, I think it's high time we introduced one of the boys of this troop - Mst. Skroozin. He faced the same as the others that day, maybe a little more since he was 124kms away from home, more specifically parents! Lying on his back in the pitch-dark room, all he could see were the fire-flies pillowing on the high roof above him. He started looking for a tube of 'Odomos' to repel those wretched from sucking on him. Instead he managed to put something better on him, something that he would have on his enamel some hours later. Though it did manage to keep those blood-suckers away, all night, it also very much managed to burn all night in places not worth mentioning!
The next day brought a new hope, with the rising sun. With time constraint set such, the boys had to bathe in a group of 4 in a 2 by 2, in order to meet up with ticking hands. Just as they always assembled every Sunday at August Kranti Maidan, Bombay, today they were to assemble too. Just a small re-direction here. Mst. Skroozin was the Patrol Leader (PL) of the Wolves patrol. His duties (rather all the PL's there) were to make sure that his patrol was ready in time for the assembly. And as the mother fate had to pierce the arrow on someone special today, there it was Mst. Scroozin, given the task to prepare the group flag for the hoisting. It was his first time, that he had to do it all on his own - from folding the flag, to knotting it and to raising it up folded on to the pole.
The whistle blew, the patrols were assembled in the horse-shoe and Scout Skroozin was given orders to hoist the flag after the short group song. The eyes widened, the stares went on, the hearts pounded and the pulses rose. The Troop Leader (TL) removed his golden yellow Lanyard instantly, pulled Scout Skroodzin's hand in the front and 'Saaat saat saat', there they went on his hands, leaving dark red scars of wound rope on his fair forearms. He right away shouted, "Scout Scroodzin!, what is this!?! How can you do such a thing, this is a shame on one and all!". "I am giving you exactly 5 mins, do whatever you can, I want this flag hoisted in the correct manner!" "Troop Disperse!" and there we walked away with wrath.
"What happened!?" enquired he with the boys. "Look behind you fool, look what you did! He is gonna screw you now. How could you hoist the flag upside down???" "Go and correct it!"
In his mind he said, "So what if it was upside down, just turn it around and hoist it again". Mother fate, help this guy, I just hope he doesn't just speak out, what he just thought!
Well, after 5 mins, the flag was hoisted again, correctly this time (phew!) the assembly got over, the others were told to go back to their places and to get ready for Inspection, while Scout Skroodzin was told to stay back. One, two, three... there they went, kicks that warmed his back. "Scout Skroodzin, I want you to clean up this entire area off dry leaves, and after you're done report to me", yelled the TL. How much more could the 14 year old sensitive Sagittarian handle. Innocent tears dropped from his eyes and damped the dry ground below as he bent and started collected the dry leaves. "I have never done this even at home!", thought he. After an hour of cleaning, he was now instructed to run around the field, do a Duck-Walk and Bunny-Hops and yes not to forget, the food for the patrol would be prepared all by himself that day.
With the sun drowning behind the mulberry trees, his bones, now felt so soft and rubberified, he could barely stand and walked as if he just had a... forget it, not for general public :) The day ended and so did the fear of having any worse day. And as of now, he still wonders why didn't they just turn the flag upside down and let it go. BIG DEAL!!!
4 comments:
no comments..:-)
And thatz how Scout Skroodzin learnt cooking. Hmmm.
:) reminds me of my NCC days ; for punishment we had to run 10 rounds of the 2 km ground with a rifle(thank god it was .22 rifle) and polish everybody's shoes and all brass articles (they should shine and shine), place tents for all.
One thing in your scout was good that you prepared your own food...though we got ready to eat food..it sucked...they had all kinds of worms in it :(
whatever..I miss those days.
but Dude, how could you hoist a flag upside down!!!
By the time the food was done, i was in no mood of eating it :( Well about hoisting the flag upside down, u'll see more Blunder's of my life here... keep checkin'
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