You live and learn!!

What a wonderful set of blog readers we have.

56er Ubi gave me this background:

Dear Jacob,

David Colaco is dead right! He has described it as it was!

I thought you were looking for the origins of the game.

I can remember fellows like Stefano Episcopo, Ralph Mukherjee, "Tum Tum" Aresh, Eruch Shroff, Zulfi Currimjee, Dewjee, amongst a host of other worthy heavyweights.

Tara Malkani was exceptionally good at this game, despite his not so heavy frame!!

It was not only the weight that counted but also the WAY one landed on the backs of those bending down that broke their backs!

BUT, it was incumbent on the team landing on the backs of the bending team to stay on!

As was the case often, because people landed badly and awkwardly, they slipped off!

If that happened, they were disqualified and the team on the receiving end then got their turn to jump on the backs of the others!

It was not a PT game. It was a "Quad" activity, just like Quad cricket and football-except that C. J. Olliver had "institutionalised" Quad Soccer with the "Free Booter's League", for which he had made that legendry trophy that was so fiercely fought for!

Regards,

Ubi.

We were all harping on the words "kitty kitty" because of our Anglo-Scottish schooling heritage.

Along comes a wise 49er Naval Patel from Mysore, and tells me that it is "kiti kiti" which means "How many?" in Marathi!!

Now we have it all - the origins itself - a Maharashtrian children's game enjoyed by all of us in our Cathedralite environment! Much better than the computer games of today with all the violence we wanted! :-)

Thank you 69er Dileep Hurry, thank you 59er David Colaco, thank you 56er H. S. Uberoi, and thank you 49er Naval Patel! A 20 year cross-scection 60 years down the road.

What would this blog be without you guys.

Kitty Kitty

Recently I had a request from a 69er through a 67er as to a game called "kitty kitty" that we used to play in school.

I had vague memories about it, so I circulated the question to my 59er colleagues through our Google Group.

In a flash came the reply from David Colaco who lives in England.

Here is how he described kitty kitty:

One team bent down in the form of a long horse against a wall or similar non moveable object. The other team ran one at a time and jumped on the line of boys bent down in the form a long horse. They tried to jump and land heavily trying hard to collapse the horse.

Once all the boys had jumped on the horse, they, (led by captain of the team on top) shouted kitty kitty kitty and the captain put a number of fingers up.

The team heavily laden had to guess the number. Only after they had guessed it correctly they had a chance to reverse roles.

I believe 3 guesses were only given or else the team on top had another go at running and collapsing the horse!

I did remember most of the game except the bit about the number guessing.

Thank you David for explaining the game - and I do remember it was great fun.

The second question is whether it was a free time game or was it one we played during PT! I sort of remember it being a PT game!

ICE - In Case of Emergency

I received this very important email from a dear friend, which I felt should have the widest publicity, so I am putting it on all my major blogs:

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) Campaign

The concept of "ICE" is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name "ICE" ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and Hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as "ICE."

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!

Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our Mobile phones today!

Please forward this. It won't take too many "forwards" before everybody will know about this It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest .

Remember:- ICE will speak for you when you are not able to.

Thank you Naval for this wonderful input.