Fifty and 30

Now that could be a study in contrast...the stuff of research. In this case however it is only the ticker,that infernal counting machine.The distance between 01 June and 01 July, starting from '58.
As I promised, some flashbacks...(and Monk! its not bottoms up, in more ways than one!).Possibly, 1967-68 .G was back for his first home stay from boarding school.A and youngerA, our first cousins, and yours truly, decided that hot summer afternoon to play carrom.So we positioned ourselves on the green cement floor and started the game. SeniorA and myself,partners, sped away with the first two boards. G and JuniorA were getting desperate. By now we had the P entourage watching and cheering their favourites.Must have been,like 20 people, some peering through the window grills from the expansive verandah..Kulia,Gauranga,Tuna,Bhasia,Abhiram,Ishwar and family of four,Hara and family of three,and I forget who else! The camp was clearly divided into two. The cheerleaders? Dr.PKP,patriarch himself, and his b(e/i?)tter half,SMP.Crucial game..breaths were bated and an eerie silence descended on the battlefront. I didn't know then (all of 9 or 10 ) that all is fair in love and war, but war it was! And I instinctively knew that I had to distract the main opponent.So the brainwave.G had told us that in school what irritated him most was when fellow students called him fatlala(an unkind reference to his ample proportions).I knew instantly what to do! Just as he was about to "pocket the Queen"I yelled "fatlala! watch what you are doing!", and then he saw purple...Mission accomplished. The shot went awry. We notched up another victory.Then he really saw purple/blue/black/red. In a trice I had been floored. A-la-Bheem his foot was on my neck!Arms flailing,neck grounded, my spirit was not.I managed a croak.Motalala.By now he was ready to kill. My partner was trying to help while his partner ran to the nearest wall, to cower(to be fair,he was only 7 or 8).And then...PKP was shouting its all G's fault while Defender of the GIF(great indian family,aka,SMP) insisted that it was that terrible "chhatiki toki"(nearest translation=skittish female) who was responsible.Decibels climbed. G and I forgot our differences...and watched!