Drawing the line

There are five reasons why playing pictionary with Viv is so entertaining.

1. He believes there is no time limit in pictionary. He thinks he can draw until the end of the world but it's okay as long as you can guess what he drew.

2. His drawing skills are... errr... uhhh... ummm... you know.

3. If I don't get what he's drawing, he'll start drawing something else, and he'll spend a LOT of time drawing it. And just when I guess that and go 'Yippee!' he will indicate that what I've got is only a clue that is gonna lead to another clue (which is a new thing he will draw) and THAT will then lead to the actual word I'm supposed to guess. Sheesh. :/

4. He uses lateral thinking skills in pictionary, especially in situations where you don't have to.

5. Some of his drawings are virtually undecipherable by anyone but me! :D

So yesterday ooparwala was meherban and he (Viv, not ooparwala) got home at an hour decent enough for us to have a game of pictionary after dinner. The theme was 'Personalities'.

First he drew this stick figure wearing an oversized nappy but before I could squeal and say "Baby Aish!" he'd drawn a bow tie.

"A guy with a large nappy and bow tie... hmmm..."

Seeing my dilemma, he drew a cape around the guy.

"It's a superhero?"

He nodded vigorously.

"Spiderman...? Batman...? Superman...?"

He nodded a "Yes" at 'Superman' and then indicated a 'No'. Sheesh! Did I mention he does that a lot?

"So it is Superman but it is not Superman?" I asked.

So he drew a guy next to Nappy-man and a sun above his head. Then he started drawing straight lines on the second guy's head, who also happened to have the longest stick figure neck ever.

"Fido Dido??" I asked.

He drew more straight lines. The lines seemed to be getting closer and closer to the sun.

"His hair is evaporating???"

He shook his head and started drawing more lines on the guy's head. V-shapes actually.

"Okay this guy has weird hair, or he really is evaporating..."

Viv made an impatient noise.

"Is that the sun or is that krypton or something? Krypton making Superman evaporate! Hahaha!"

Viv glared at me and proceeded to draw a circle with lines on it.

"Is that the earth?" I asked.

He shook his head and drew the same thing again. This time he partly shaded it.

"Yeh kya ho raha hai... hey bhagwan... is this the earth or not??"

He shook his head and drew an eye taking an aerial view of a third stick figure. Then he drew another circle and partly shaded it too.

"Errr... top view of head... partly shaded.... hmmm... is this supposed to be a bald guy or something?"

He nodded and sat back grinning like a child who has finished his homework before everyone else in the class itself.

"What the... ok let me put this together. Bald guy related to Superman? Is it Lex Luthor?"

He was smiling.

"Lex Luthor is correct???"

"Yes."

"Hey, wait a minute. So what the hell was the evaporating hair for??" I demanded.

"That was sunlight reflecting off his bald head." He smiled.

"What?? Sunlight reflecting off his bald head? So where were the arrows to show the reflection?"

No answer.

Ok fine. My turn.

So this is what I drew.
























"It's a beauty queen... Miss India?"

I nodded.

"And that's a cricketer. From India?"

I shook my head. There was a reason I'd drawn him outside the map.

Then I drew two strips on each of their heads (it's a code to indicate the word 'name').

"Their names?"

I nodded.

"They have the same name?"

I nodded.

"They have the same name????"

Duh. Yeah-ha!

"WHAT?"

I rolled my eyes and glared at him.

"There's a male cricketer called Aishwarya???" He asked.

"Hahahaha! No, but there's one who is close, he's called Jayasuriya!" I guffawed at my own bad joke.

"Sushmita?" He tried.

"What's wrong with you, Viv? A male cricketer called 'Sushmita'? Think, man think!"

So I figured there are way too many Miss Indias and I'd have to give him another clue. So I drew this.

"She became Miss World? Oh I know I know! Hayden! Diana Hayden! Matthew Hayden!"

He sat back, grinning.

"I said same name, not same surname yaar!" So I shook my head and drew an oval around the circle.

"Miss Universe?"

I nodded.

So he thought and thought and thought and finally said it.

"I know. It's Lara Dutta."

I nodded. Then he protested.

"But Lara is her first name, and his last name. So technically they don't have the same 'name', right?"

Gulp.

"Ermmm... Dude, it's your turn to draw." I quickly changed the subject.

So he drew this. It looked like a guy in a body cast who had been shot out of a melted cannon. Next to him was a guy who had covered his eyes with his hand, possibly because he could not bear to see the gruesome nature of the things he was witnessing. The Indian flag gloomily observed the proceedings.










"Viv, is that by any chance supposed to be India?" I pointed at the melted cannon.

He nodded.

"Ohh... some Indian politician... head of state... Jawaharlal Nehru?"

He shook his head.

"Is it an Indian Prime Minister or a President?"

He nodded.

"Someone from Gujarat?" I was looking at the big blue circle on the "India map".

He shook his head.

"Are you sure this is not Jawaharwlal Nehru?"

Glare.

"But he looks like Jawaharlal Nehru!" I insisted.

Another glare.

Actually if it looked like Jawaharlal Nehru, it had to be anyone but him. After all, Viv had drawn him. :P

So I started rattling off the names of all the Indian Prime Ministers and Presidents that I could think of. Finally I stopped at Gyani Zail Singh and then said, "I'm out. Draw something else."

So he drew this at the bottom.



















"It's a teacher scolding a boy who's whistling in class?"

Nope.

"Oh wait, that guy is playing a piano?"

Nod.

"That's a piano? Hahahaha!"

Glare.

"Ok ok. This is an orchestra?"

Nod.

"So the guy with the stick is a conductor?"

Nod.

"Zubin Mehta?"

Viv made a face and I knew exactly what it meant.

"Oh, it's not exactly a conductor? A music director?"

Nod.

"A music director from South India?"

Nod.

"Illayaraja?"

He shook his head.

"Rahman?"

He shook his head.

So did I. With impatience.

So he drew this at the bottom of the page. It was a stick figure flying through the air in a projectile motion. What was with Viv and stick figures flying through the air like cannonballs?























The stick figure seemed kinda drunk and I seemed to be so too, since I could not stop laughing. He wrote the numbers '0' and '42'. I wanted to tell him numbers weren't allowed, but it was too entertaining, so I let him continue.

"This guy is a marathon runner?"

He nodded.

Where the hell is this going, I wondered. I did not know the name of a single famous marathon runner. Less so that of a marathon runner who went on to become the President of India. Or the other way round.

Then he drew another stick figure with a sad face.

"Sad guy?"

He nodded.

"I know I know. This guy could not finish the marathon so he is sad." I declared victoriously.

He shook his head vigorously.

"Oh, so he did finish the marathon?"

Nod.

"He finished but he's tired?"

Vigorous nodding.

"He's exhausted?"

More vigorous nodding, followed by a drawing of a face with an arrow coming out of his nose.

"He's blowing his nose? Yuck!"

Impatient shaking of the head, followed by vigorous pointing at all the guys involved in this weird marathon saga.

"Oh... he's breathing out."

Nodding, followed by maniacal pointing at the arrow.

"He's breathless?"

Big grin on Viv's face.

"Breathless... Shankar Mahadevan! Oh he's the music director you were trying to show! Phew I got it! Finally!"

Grin gets bigger.

"Hey... wait! Wasn't there supposed to be a President or something?"

Nod.

"Oh man... Nooo.... Surely you don't mean it's Shankar Dayal Sharma?"

Biggest grin.