Having spent good money on professional show tickets, a free game of Tambola with prizes seemed like an entertaining and rewarding prospect. NAB 6105 filled up soon after 2PM with scores of people wanting to try out their luck. The poetry club had other plans, and added its own twist to this classic game played by millions around the world every day.

‘Tambola Tales’ is loosely based on Bingo/Housie. Participants receive a specific Hindi or English word, upon striking out a number. These words are to be used in a story or poem, in the same sequence that the participant finds them. In Housie equivalents, prizes were awarded for fastest five, full Housie, the best story/poem written, and of course, for first and second place.

Throughout the dynamic game, one could observe mixed reactions on the participants’ faces. What was quite constant was the excitement in the audience, which peaked when the anchor had them guess what number was going to be called. For some unknown reason, participants often (randomly) guessed 69. Things became even more mysterious when the Poetry Club assigned the word ‘together’ to the number 69, and this seemed to entertain the audience to a great extent for some reason. In the end, Full Housie was attained by two BITSians, and a girl from Delhi University. The results for best story/poem are going to be displayed today in the controls booth today. Those who took part still have a chance to make it large if they have made the best use of words they got.