Wednesday, January 02, 2008

What a charade!

It was the year 2001. The university inter-hostel cultural competitions were on. The event was Dumb Charades (DC). The 'ultimate DC team' comprising of ‘the gods of DC’ which included Viv, was facing the 'not so ultimate DC team', which included me. The eyes of the audience were filled with pity for the hapless 'not so ultimate DC team' that was about to be massacred by the ultimate DC team.

Just before the 'IT round' (Don't go "Sheesh!" on me. What kinda rounds do you expect when a bunch of engineers play DC?), I got my team together and purely on a hunch said, "Guys, if we get a word like ‘pseudocode’, I'll just point to my face and then shake my hand."

I went to the stage and picked my word. Holy cow. If I had a penny for each freaky thing that happens to me… Yes. Yes it was pseudocode. We won. Time recorded - 3 seconds. Everyone in the audience was dumb-founded. They were all wondering how the heck I mimed pseudocode and how the heck my team guessed it in 3 seconds flat. It would have been 2 seconds actually *looks coyly at nails* if I hadn't wasted 1 second just staring at the word cos I could not believe it actually was pseudocode.

It has been 7 years and I still do the victory dance every time I relate the story of how we beat the crap out of the supposed DC gods. Viv of course shrugs his shoulders and says it was a fluke because we'd decided on a code for pseudocode just before. Sheesh. We could have picked any word at all - why pseudocode? I say flukes happen to deserving people. And deserving people get repeat performances. Even if it’s 7 years later.

So yesterday, we had a small chaat & mango margarita party at home - Shub, Pizzadude, Viv and me. Years of being crushed by the Christmas and New Year crowds out there has taught us a big lesson of life – stay at home.

















Check out the spread!

As we settled down to play DC with hindi movies after lunch, I wasn't very sure how well we'd do. Truth is - I've never played DC with hindi movies before. Strange that I prefer DC’ing to english movies over hindi ones, since I watch like ONE english movie in a year. Anyway, we decided to give it a go. We opened Raaga.com and went to the movie index page. Each team then picked a movie for the mimer of the other team.

As you all know by now, Viv, is a timeless man. Be it pictionary or DC, he thinks he can play without worrying about how much time it takes. How the heck does he play one-day cricket, I wonder. Nevertheless, the beauty of his thought process and incomparable creativity are very entertaining when he plays pictionary or DC because the long-windedness just never ends, and neither does the laughter. A couple of months ago, when we were playing against Aarti and her hubby, Viv started miming the whole Ramayana - he mimed Ravan and Sita and Lakshman and Lakshman Rekha and what not, and it turns out all he wanted to show was "deer". :/

His "best work" yesterday is yet another testimony to his talent. I gave him a one-word movie to mime. First, he gave me a dirty look and said, “I don’t know the meaning of this word.” So I told him. He thought for a minute that then started miming. He showed the following things: kids, glasses, motorcycle, baby, magic wand, big guy, motorcycle, baby, motorcycle, motorcycle. I was just sitting there laughing helplessly because only I knew what the heck he was trying to do, while his team looked on in bewilderment. He was trying to show Hagrid from Harry Potter. Why Hagrid since it was a hindi movie DC? Because... from Hagrid he planned to somehow get to the movie he was actually supposed to be miming. Can you guess what the movie was?

Shagird. :/

Anyway, Shub and I whacked the guys' asses, rather royally I must say, and we set some records similar to the ones set in 2001. It's amazing what a great team we made, specifically when she was miming and I was guessing, considering we've never played anything in the same team before!

Here are some snippets.

Act I

Viv and Pizzadude pick what they think is a very difficult movie. Shub starts miming.
Shub shows three fingers.
Me - Three words!
She joins her hand in prayer and lifts them up.
Me - It's a God?
She nods and shows a bow and arrow.
Me - Errrm… Kaamdev?
Everyone explodes into laughter. Darn, four seconds lost.
She shakes her head.
Me - Ram? Shri Ram?
She nods her head vigorously and shows a person standing next to her.
Me – Oh! Lakshman? Rampur ka Lakshman!
She does a victory dance and we do a high-five.
Pizzadude and Viv look at each other in utter shock.
Viv - What movie is that?? How do you even know it?
Me - The one with Randhir Kapoor?
Viv - Hainn??
Me - The one with that song "Gum hai kisi ke pyaar mein..."
Viv continues to shake his head in disbelief.

Act II

Shub shows two fingers.
Me - Two words.
She gestures that it's a movie from long ago.
Me - Very old movie?
She gestures someone singing classical music.
Me - Tansen? Oh wait, two words… Baiju Baawra??
She high-fives me.
Viv - WHAT? Who is Baiju Baawra????
Me – He was a singer. You didn't read the story of Tansen and Baiju Baawra in school?
The guys have the usual expression.

Act III

Shub shows two fingers.
Me - Two words.
She shows a goddess.
Me - It's a goddess.
She shows books.
Me - Books?
She tries to show a musical instrument but she doesn't know how to hold it. It kinda looks like a guitar.
Me (thought bubble) - A guitar playing goddess? Shakira?
Shub (to the guys) - How do they hold it?
Viv shows her how a veena is held (his sis plays the instrument).
Me - Veena! Goddess! Veena! Saraswati Chandra!
Shub - Yes!
Viv - What movie IS that? How do you know that?
Me - I think I have a song from that movie...
The guys repeat previous expression.

Act IV

Shub shows one finger.
Me - One word.
She holds the edges of her top and shows it off.
Me - Libaas!
She high-fives me.
The guys' jaws are on the floor.
Viv - That's libaas??
Shub and I - Yeah! Libaas means dress. Clothes.
Viv - I didn't even know what the word meant!
Pizzadude - Me neither!
Viv - Yeah! I thought it's some high fundoo urdu word meaning good behaviour or something. Like parents ka libaas karna chahiye!
Me - You mean lihaaz karna chahiye? Hahaha!
The guys – Libaas means dress?
Me - Yeah! Half the tailors in India name their shops Libaas yaar! How could you not know?
The guys shake their heads.

Act V

This is my favourite one, the one that shocked the heck outta the guys.

Shub shows one finger.
Me - One word?
She nods.
Me - Erm... Ijaazat? Abhiman?
She nods like mad.
Me - Ijaazat?
Shub – YEAH!
We high-five again.
The guys - WHAT??? She didn't even mime anything!
The gals - Muahahahaha!

Loved the dumb start to the year!
Happy New Year, bewdas! :D

.



39 comments:

Unknown said...

GOLD!!!! my very first gold!

Hilllllarious post! and you are right about spending new year's at home.....the rates are just exhorbitant outside.

Happy New Year!!

Zahid said...

yippee !!! first to comment !!!
brought down some memories of mine...this used to be our avorite game during train journeys..And i was just real poor at it....when it was my turn to go and it succeded we would like go ga-ga and rock....

hilarious at the same time...and happy new year !!!! have a fun in 366 days ahead !!!

Bivas said...

will settle for bronze ;-) missed by whiskers
//he thinks he can play without worrying about how much time it takes. How the heck does he manage in cricket
Maybe Test Cricket is his calling... :D
I Love Charades with bolly movies...something like 'suraj kaa satwaan ghoda' or 'alibaba chalis chor' or 'hazar chaurasi ki maa' are indeed interesting ones to enact! :-)

Raj said...

Happy New Year!

You people were lucky to have been given such easy movies to act out.

Whenever I play DC with new people, the first movie they have to act out is "Rukmavati Ki Haveli" :D

I guess you have the song "Chhod de saari duniya" from Saraswati Chandra.

Just Jane said...

DC and Pictionary rule! And so do chicks! :D

spread looks yummy laid out like that! are you trying to break my NY resolutions? :P

Jay said...

:D.

Happy New Year to you too. :)

Unknown said...

Hilarious Post Bhai ! ROFL !!
Congrats on your Win ! Happy New year ! Btw I loved reading your travelogue !

Shanks_P said...

Happy New Year ....
Looks like all wins to start with on the new year .....

I'm a DC freak and once jolted the district Rotary club team with some amazing miming i mean guesses...the best one was Persolity round over in 2 sec, the person was Abdul Kalam

....but Libaas ....it looks to be very funny .....I guess langugae edge helps ;)

Jaya said...

Cool. Very nice post. I can relate to some of it as I used to play DC in college. Wishing you and Viv a fantastic 2008!

The Mad Girl said...

Hilarious post!!
once my frnds made me mime the name of an Italian movie we had never heard of...But I did it(the pains I had to go through) and my frnds could guess it right. funny no?
And how on earth Ijaazat? I mean how? well of course after pseudocode u needn't explain.:)
and saraswati chandra? wow!

A very Happy New Year to you and Viv.:)

Crime Master said...

Crappy err.. Happy New Year to you too!! :D If you usually prepare such yummy stuff to eat, i might just come over and stay with you! :P

PizzaDude said...

I am gonna call both of you as "Libaaz/Ijazaat Girls" from now on. Seriously!

You both should be grateful to Viv and me for providing you with some wholesome entertainment. What about the "duck", "tarzan" and "satyam shivam sundaram" huh ??????

Anusha said...

Bwah! Viv was part of "the ultimate DC team" in university? I find that a little hard to believe! How did he ever play with limited time? :P

And congrats to you girls for whacking the guys! Woman power! :D

Happy New Year! *hugs*

Nidhi said...

ROFL :D
Mast post tha...reminds me of one of the DC sessions we had in office which earned me a nick of "hazaar chauraasi ki maa" coz that was what i guessed when my teammate was enacting "hazaaron khwaahishein aisi" :D

Couldnt help mentioning another DC session where we built our own custom names to mime...one of those names that I remember till date ..."Kondivita ki road par churail ka hamla" :D :D

rt said...

ha ha - very funny and very interesting too!!

Angelsera said...

I see you had a chaat nite and din invite me :(

Anonymous said...

ROTFL... Howlarious post this one. I luved the way you two dudettes truimphed over the dudes. And the spread on your table looks yum! Now i wanna have pani puri :P

Tragic that i can't comment from office. Glad i'm commenting now.

BTW Happy New Year!
Cheers (can i have a peg here?)
:)

shub said...

eehahahahahahaha! :D
I loved especially the way when it was our turn, Viv would pick out something and say, 'this is an EVIL one' or 'this is a tough one' and when it was their turn, we'd pick something simple for them and go, 'this should be easy enough'! Mwahahahahaha!

Unknown said...

Geez, I didn't know a single movie you guessed:o I don't blame the guys! hahahahha but all the same, glad it was a girl power thingy:)

Jina said...

happy new year...:)...dat DC...ur too good...i was knockd out of my consciousness aftr seein the movie names u gals guessd...

Rose said...

Hi!! I'm new to your blog. I was reading blogs from your Archive and I should say, I really like what you write!!

This post was good too, but I think the pictionary one rules, It's just simply stamp-your-feet Hillarious! :)

And a Happy New Year. May you stay funny!!

Amey said...

Sometimes the words "sheer dumb luck" can be taken literally, right? ;)

For us, the word was "Phantom".

Libaas-lihaaz was too funny. :D

anshuj said...

Whoa! What a Kickass show of your bollywood knowledge base!
This is my first comment on your blog although I have been following it for about an year now. I consider myself a composed person generally, but couldn't help LOLing alone on this one.
Wish you and Viv a very happy new year.

Unknown said...

hehe. spread looks yummy. this has happened with us too, several times, in a girls versus guys D.C, sometimes the girl just needs to mime "one word" and the girls guess the movie, the year, etc. etc. and boys are just left gaping. i love it!

waise blog actually looks better with shrunken header.
*ducks from rolled up newspaper*

:) i mean in terms of size- the full size taking up half the browser window was a bit larger than life types- this size is nice.

Unknown said...

Absolutely divine spread you had on your table...you've put me in the mood to make tracks for my favourite chaat place tonight.
The DC sessions were also hilarious. We have DC sessions during our commute from office to home and 2 of us gals usually leave the guys flabbergasted and wondering if we use some secret code to communicate!! What a lovely way to usher in the new year. Wish you both a wonderful new year and look forward to reading loads of stuff from the BHAI!

Iday said...

Hey Shaz. Back here after a really long time, a period during which i screwed myself by trying to be someone i was not, and learnt a lot out of the experience :) Things look to be back on track, and i hope to experience peace of mind henceforth!!!

Hilarious post - i can totally relate to the guys! I pretty much had the same expression reading through all the acts :O

Wish you a great new year as well! Love the new look BTW :)

Sayesha said...

#Sanket,
Thanks! :)
Actually more than the rates, it's the crowd that makes me freak out. :)

#Zahid,
Happy new year to you too! :)

#Bivas,
Hehehe! As it is, I hardly go to watch him play. If he starts playing test cricket, yawwwwnnnnnnnn! :O

Hey, Suraj ka satwaan ghoda came up in our game too! :D

#Raj,
Hehehe! I was wondering how I'd show Rukmavati ki haveli. Would be awesome to show haveli especially! Bhootni! Hehehehe! :P

//I guess you have the song "Chhod de saari duniya" from Saraswati Chandra.

Yup! I LOVE the song! It's amazingly modern for a song written so long ago. :)

#Janefield,
//are you trying to break my NY resolutions? :P

Khi khi khi! Come over, I'll make the low-cal version for you! :D

#Jay,
Same to you! :D

#Dhara,
Thanks! :D

#Shanks_P,
Whoa! How did you show Abdul Kalam in 2 sec? The hair? :P

#Joy,
Thanks! Same to you! :)

#The Mad Girl,
Hehehe! Happy new year to you too! :D

#Crime Master,
Aao thakur, kabhi bhi aao! Tumhara toh hamesha bhel(puri)come hai apun ki kholi mein! :P

#Pizzadude,
Hahahahaa! Hey I forgot why you did "Duck"! :D Your Tarzan was awesome! :D

#Clueless,
//Bwah! Viv was part of "the ultimate DC team" in university? I find that a little hard to believe! How did he ever play with limited time? :P

Hehehe! His team never let him mime - he was always the guesser! :P

Happy new year! Remember to get me my hindi DVDs from India! >:D<

#Nidhi,
Hahahaha! I like the idea of custom names, maybe we'll do that next time! :P

#rt,
Thanks! :D

#Angelsera,
Still owe you guys that one. That will be one one big junta party. :D

#Lively,
Thanks! Pego ji, jee bharke pego! :D

#Shub,
Muahahaha! *virtual high-five too*
>:D<

#Duhita,
Hehehehe! :P :P :P Start watching some oldies, gal! :P

#Ursjina,
Happy new year! Good to see you here after so long! :)

#Rose,
Welcome to the bar and thanks for commenting! :) Happy new year to you too! :)

#Stone,
:D
ps: My smile bigger! :D

#Amey,
Ufff... don't take away our credit yaar.. jealoussss! :P

#Anshuj,
Following for a year and commenting only now??? *rolls up hypothetical newspaper and thwacks Anshuj's head*

Chal new year hai bolke maaf kiya... happy new year! :D

#The Girl from Ipanema,
//waise blog actually looks better with shrunken header.

Hainn?? I haven't changed anything! Tu paagal ho gayi hai kya?? *points and laughs*

#Archana,
Thanks! Happy new year to you too! :D :D :D

#Iday,
*rubs eyes*
You?? Here??? Hehehe! Welcome back! The bar looks cool now eh? You missed quite a bit man! Anyway, happy new year to you too! :D

arpana said...

//Me - I think I have a song from that movie...

thats phool tumhe bheja hain khat main! :P

Iday said...

//You?? Here???
What do you mean :(
I just did not have time man. Will try to be regular henceforth :)

Yeah - i can see i missed a lot. Was reading many posts yday. Pictionary competition et al :(

Amey said...

Bhai, aap ka credit churane ki himmat kisme hain yahan pe?

Waise aap ke head(er) ko kya hua?

satish said...

bhai. happy new year rahega.

nice post!

Sanchit said...

wah wah
subhanallah..
mujhe bhi college ke din yaad aa gaye...

i hate these pangs... but as always happy write.. thanks :)

A G said...

After getting back from a trip of three nights in a train and playing Dumb C with only one friend...and remebering old college victories and the only defeat ever......(we were probably a mix of your team and viv's)


This is the perfect write up i got to read on a monday morning.....Ijaazat made me role in laughter!!!

Give me the permission to copy paste your post (with full credentials mentioned and blog url referenced) to pass on to my degree friends...please!!!

Ag!


thank you :)

Adorable Pancreas said...

Hagrid... Shagird! Oh. My. God.

Have a terrfic 2008!

Sayesha said...

#Arpana,
Actually it's 'Chhod de sari duniya kisi ke liyee'. :)

#Iday,
Haha! I believe there will be many more pictionary competitions in the bar. :D

#Amey,
Apun ke head ko? Kya hua?? :O Theek toh dikh rela hai... kya re mamu bana raha hai kya? :P

#Satish,
Happy new year, chhora! :D

#Sanchit,
Thanks! :D

#A G,
First of all, welcome to the bar! Secondly, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. And thirdly, feel free to pass on the post. :)

#Adorable Pancreas,
Hehehe... that's how his mind works! :P
ps: Happy new year! :D

Amey said...

Sorry Bhai, jab apun ne woh comment likha tab aap ke blog ka header aap ka photo without head aur legs dikharela tha...

Just Jane said...

Sometimes in Firefox, the head and legs get cut off!! Hahahhaha!! Kya bhai itna bada foto lagwaya ha WANTED poster ki tarah!!! Already haath gayela hai, kitna kaam (scrolling) karwaate ho, ufff! :P

A G said...

hee hee..thank you for the second welcome because i have been to the bar before.

presently i am doing an entire long live Sayesha,Hail Sayesha
Sayesha ki jai ho,mangal mai ho routine. (just read the K-serial post :D )

Rosh said...

I once had the same freaky luck..believe it or not! The segment was called Books and Authors.
I told my mates, before getting up to pick our word, that if Mein Kampf come i will just point to an imaginary mush(not to be confused with Pervez Mush ;-).
We too cracked it in 3 seconds flat! :D

Some luck we had! Till the last round where we got 'Charles Sobhraj'. He killed us! :(